Large French parking lots must be covered with solar panels from 2023

French parking spaces must be covered with solar panels from 1 July 2023. This concerns parking spaces with eighty spaces or more. Parking places for trucks and in historic environments are not covered by the new legislation.

The French parliament passed the solar panel law late last week. The law will come into effect from 1 July 2023. Parking lots with between eighty and four hundred spaces have five years from that moment to comply with the law reports Public Sénat. Parking lots with more than four hundred spaces have only three years to adapt to the new law. Parking parks that do not comply with the law by then can expect a fine of 50 euros per parking space per month.

According to the French medium, during the drafting of the legislation, there were many discussions about possible mitigating circumstances for parking lot holders who could not obtain enough solar panels in time. It was claimed that Asian solar panel manufacturers would be happy with the legislation, as the law would create a shortage of panels. On the other hand, according to the French government, there should be ‘no slowdown in the decarbonisation of the economy’.

Covering parking spaces can generate up to 11 gigawatts of electricity, according to the French government. This would be equivalent to 11 nuclear power plants, of which France has 56 so far.