As a member of the Solar Nation Assured Installer Network, we get to do some really cool stuff with industry peers and legends.
And this is the coolest thing to date, even after all these years.
But first, the Why?
Why cooler solar car ports are such a good idea
1. They turn dead space into productive infrastructure
UK car parks are already built, already ugly, already sealed with tarmac.
Solar car ports don’t compete with farming, housing or nature. Solar panels sit above waste space and quietly get on with producing energy. No planning rows about “losing green fields”.
No land acquisition battles.
Just… use what we’ve already ruined.
2. They actively cool cities
Bare tarmac can hit 60–70°C in summer.
Solar canopies:
- Shade the ground
- Reduce heat islands
- Keep cars cooler (less AC use when you get back in)
That’s real-world climate adaptation, not just mitigation.
3. They protect vehicles (and wallets)
- Less UV damage
- Less cracked dashboards
- Less paint fade
- Less hail / snow / frost grief
Insurers love this. Fleet managers really love this.
4. They unlock EV charging at scale
Car parks + solar + batteries = local energy ecosystems:
- Power EV chargers during the day
- Store excess for evening demand
- Reduce grid upgrades
- Keep businesses operational during outages
Supermarkets. Retail parks. Hospitals. Schools. Stadiums.
All sitting on latent power stations.
5. They make the transition visible
Rooftop solar is invisible.
Ground-mounted is hidden away.
Solar car ports are in-your-face climate action:
“This place is powered by the sun.”
That changes public perception fast.
How much UK land is wasted on parking?
Let’s be conservative.
- UK parking space (incl. access lanes): ~30 m²
- Estimated parking spaces nationwide: 30–40 million
(cars, supermarkets, retail, workplaces, hospitals, public sector)
That gives us roughly:
900–1,200 km² of land covered in tarmac
That’s:
- Bigger than Greater London
- Almost the size of Cornwall’s built environment
- And doing absolutely nothing useful
How much energy could solar car ports generate?
Again, conservative maths
Assumptions:
- Only 50% of parking covered (being cautious)
- Average solar density: 150 W/m²
- UK yield: ~900 kWh per kW installed per year
The numbers:
- 900 km² × 50% = 450 km²
- 450,000,000 m² × 150 W = 67.5 GW
- Annual generation ≈ 60 TWh per year
What does 60 TWh mean?
That’s roughly:
- ~20% of UK electricity demand
- Enough to power every EV in the UK with room to spare
- More than the output of several nuclear reactors
- Tens of billions saved in imported energy over time
And remember — no new land.
Right now in the UK
We’re:
- Importing energy
- Arguing about pylons
- Fighting over farmland
- And paving cities that boil in summer
While sitting on one of the largest untapped solar assets in Europe. Car parks.
Solar car ports aren’t “nice to have”.
They’re infrastructure we should already be embarrassed not to be building at scale.
The Solar Nation is now fully up to speed, armed and ready to roll. We have solutions for residential one and two car bays, larger mid scale car ports for shared spaces, pub car parks, health clubs, shops and apartment parking areas. We also have a solution for large university, hospital, supermarket car parks.
The public have been calling for this for years. We’ve listened and we have the solutions.
Now who fancies some?