Solar Car Park Ports Could Power 1.7 Million UK Homes

Solar panels on car ports above British car park spaces could make enough energy from the sun for 1.7 million homes, says one of the UK's leading solar energy developers hoping to be the first to introduce the technology on a commercial scale to the UK.

As well as energy, solar carports provide shelter and lighting at night to improve safety, and are the "next exciting frontier in the global solar revolution", says the founder of Hampshire-based solar developer Hive Energy, Giles Redpath.

The RAC Foundation estimates there are as many as four million parking spaces in 17,000 non-residential car parks in the UK, and 93 percent of these are at surface level or not covered1. If all of these were fitted with solar carports, together they could generate enough energy for 1,687,507 typical homes and prevent 2.4 million tonnes of carbon emissions2.

Solar car ports are already in use in many other countries such as Germany, and in 2014 alone the US installed 600 MW worth. The shelters are specially designed to capture the maximum amount of energy from the sun throughout the day. They can provide a source of energy for organisations including hospitals, councils, shopping centres, business parks and airports at a much lower rate than current energy costs. Energy prices can be fixed for 25 years, and any excess energy can be sold and put into the local electricity grid for other homes and businesses to use.

Hive Energy's CEO, Giles Redpath, said: "The sun is one of nature's inexhaustible sources of energy. Just as Thomas Edison foresaw 100 years ago, there's now a powerful solar revolution happening all around the world.

"Solar car park shelters offer the UK a chance to generating clean, renewable power right at the heart of our town and city centres where it's needed. We predict they'll be a common and welcome sight here in the UK within the next five years, making safe, clean and affordable energy for all of us".

Hive Energy is already in discussion with a number of high-profile names to create solar car park schemes. The government's latest quarterly Public Attitude Tracker survey shows that solar energy is supported by 81 percent of people in the UK3, making it our most popular form of energy generation.

The innovation in other locations for solar energy comes as recent changes in government policy is restricting the development of large ground-based solar parks. The new Contracts for Difference (CfD) funding mechanism for renewables introduced by the government as part of the 2013 Energy Act has meant that, despite two solar projects being selected, neither will progress. This means not a single large-scale solar scheme will be built under the scheme anywhere in the UK in 2015-16.

As well as solar car shelters and ground-based solar parks, Hive Energy has also installed solar schemes for some of the UK's best-known names, including Waitrose's Leckford Estate farm in Hampshire, and the headquarters of ethical team company Clipper Teas in Dorset. It has now developed more than 300 MW of solar schemes in total, from Hampshire to Lancashire.

Britain gets as much as 60 percent of the solar energy as the Equator on average, making it an effective place to harness the power of the sun. Solar panels are reliable and work silently, and are providing an increasing source of clean, home-grown energy in the UK.