Solar Carports: Turn Your Car Park Into a Second Roof

What a solar carport is and who it suits

The permitted development order defines a solar canopy as "a canopy structure installed with solar PV or solar thermal equipment", open on all sides, or on three sides where it adjoins a building (GPDO Part 14). In practice it is a frame of steel columns and beams on foundations, with panels forming the roof.

• Staff car parks. Offices, factories and warehouses with parking used all day.
• Fleet and depot parking. Vans and vehicles that could charge on site.
• Customer car parks. Retail, hotels, leisure and garden centres with large open parking.
• Sites with a poor roof. An asbestos, fragile or ageing roof, or a listed building.

Carport or roof: which to look at first

Look at the roof first. If it is unsuitable, too small for what you use, or an asbestos cement roof you don't want to overclad, a carport is the next place to look.

Planning permission for solar carports

In England, Class OA of Part 14 allows a solar canopy in an area lawfully used as off-street parking, other than for a house or block of flats (GPDO Part 14). It is not permitted if:

• Height. Any part would be over 4 metres above ground level.
• Homes nearby. It would be within 10 metres of the curtilage of a house or block of flats.
• Heritage. It would be within the curtilage of a listed building, or on a scheduled monument.
• Advertising. It would be used to display an advertisement.
• Temporary car parks. The parking is a temporary use of land under Part 4, Class B.

Before starting, you apply to the council for a decision on whether its prior approval is needed for the canopy's siting, design and external appearance, in particular glare for neighbours. The work must be finished within 3 years of that decision. Over a permeable surface, run-off must go to a permeable or porous area within the car park, and when the canopy is no longer needed it must be removed and the land restored as far as reasonably practicable.

Outside those limits, or in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, ask the installer or your planning adviser which rules apply.

Adding EV charging under the canopy

Chargers are a natural pairing: daytime solar, cars parked all day. Two things help with the cost:

• The Workplace Charging Scheme. Extended for a final year until 31 March 2027. Up to £500 per socket for installations completed on or after 1 April 2026, up to 75% of costs, and up to 40 sockets across all your sites. You apply for a voucher and an OZEV-authorised installer claims the grant for you (GOV.UK). It is open to businesses, charities and public sector organisations (GOV.UK).
• Capital allowances. New and unused EV charging equipment bought before April 2027 qualifies for 100% first-year allowances (GOV.UK), and the panels are special rate plant (HMRC). See capital allowances.

Chargers change the electrical design and the grid application, so mention them at the survey even if they come later. A battery can hold daytime solar for charging later in the day.

What the survey checks in a car park

• Lawful use and boundaries. That the area is lawfully used as off-street parking, and how far the nearest homes and gardens are.
• What is under the tarmac. Drainage runs, lighting cables, ducts and other buried services, before any foundation design.
• Levels and drainage. Falls, gullies and where water collects now; run-off rules over permeable surfaces.
• How the car park is used. Bay layout, vehicle heights (vans, deliveries, emergency access), lighting, CCTV and barriers.
• The supply and the grid. The distance to the main switchboard, and a G99 application to the network operator for systems over 16A per phase (NGED).
• Keeping the site open. Which bays close and when, and how deliveries and staff parking carry on.

Costs and payback: how to compare quotes

We don't publish carport prices: most of the cost is the structure, foundations and groundworks, which depend on the ground and the buried services, and we have no source we would stand behind. Compare quotes on the price per kWp, the expected yearly generation, how much of it you will use, what the price includes (groundworks, drainage, lighting under the canopy, chargers) and the warranties on the structure as well as the panels. Our payback guide explains why how much you use on site matters most.