France to Require All Large Car Parks to be Covered by Solar Panels

All large car parks in France will be covered by solar panels under new legislation approved as part of president Emmanuel Macron’s renewable energy drive. Legislation approved by the French Senate this week requires existing and new car parks with space for at least 80 vehicles to be covered by solar panels.

The owners of car parks with between 80 and 400 spaces have five years to comply with the measures, while operators of those with more than 400 will have just 3 years. At least half of the area of the larger sites must be covered by solar panels.

The French government believes the measure could generate up to 11 gigawatts of power.

Politicians had originally applied the bill to car parks larger than 2,500 sq metres before deciding to opt for car parking spaces. French politicians are also examining proposals to build large solar farms on empty land by motorways and railways as well as on farmland.

Source: Guardian