Solar carports: turn your car park into a power station

Key facts for 2026

What is a solar carport?

A solar carport is a canopy structure over parking bays with solar panels as its roof. In planning law, a "solar canopy" is a canopy with solar PV or solar thermal equipment that is open on all sides, or on three sides if it adjoins a building. In practice, most commercial solar car parks use a steel or aluminium frame on concrete foundations, in rows over one or two lines of bays.

Why businesses build them:

• No roof needed. Ideal where the building roof is too small, too weak, asbestos-sheeted, shaded or owned by a landlord.
• Big capacity. A large car park can carry far more panels than the roof of the building it serves.
• EV charging in the same project. Cables, ducts and grid capacity are planned once.
• Shelter and shade. Customers, patients and staff stay dry, and cars stay cooler in summer.
• Visible. A solar car park shows customers and staff what you're doing on carbon better than panels hidden on a roof.

The trade-off is cost and complexity. A carport needs a structure and foundations that a roof already provides, so the cost per kW is generally higher than rooftop solar. Most sites look at both, and many do the roof first. See commercial solar panels for rooftop options.

Solar car park planning rules: Class OA permitted development

Since 21 December 2023, England's permitted development rules have included Class OA: the installation, alteration or replacement of a solar canopy within an area lawfully used as off-street parking, other than parking for a house or a block of flats. We checked the exact wording on legislation.gov.uk.

Anything outside these limits needs a full planning application. The most common reason is height: a 4m limit can be tight if delivery vans or high-sided vehicles need to get under the canopy.

Planning outside England

Class OA is part of England's permitted development order. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set their own rules, and a solar canopy there may need planning permission. Speak to the local planning authority, or ask the installer to run a pre-application check, before you commit to a design.

Solar car parks by site type

Pair a solar carport with EV charging

Solar carports and EV chargers belong together. The cars are already parked under the panels, the ducting goes in once, and daytime charging uses solar output that might otherwise be exported cheaply.

• Workplace Charging Scheme: The Workplace Charging Scheme pays up to £500 per socket (it went up from £350 on 1 April 2026), capped at 75% of costs, for up to 40 sockets across all your sites. That's up to £20,000. Funding runs until 31 March 2027, its final year.
• State-funded schools and colleges: a separate version of the scheme pays up to £2,000 per socket, also capped at 75% and ending on 31 March 2027.
• Closed schemes: The EV infrastructure grant for staff and fleets and the commercial landlord chargepoint grant both closed to applications on 31 March 2026.
• Business rates: in England, plant that stores, transforms or transmits power to EV chargepoints is excluded from rateable value until 1 April 2035, under the same 2022 regulations that cover solar.
• Grid capacity: chargers add demand while panels add generation. Designing them together can make better use of the connection you already have, and a battery can smooth the peaks. See commercial battery storage.

With the Workplace Charging Scheme in its final year, a carport project that includes chargers needs to be planned now. See Workplace Charging Scheme grants and business EV charging.

Structures, foundations, drainage and lighting

Structure

• Layout: single-row cantilevers keep posts out of the way of car doors; double-row designs cover two lines of bays from one row of posts; portal frames suit wide spans.
• Clearance: agree the minimum clear height with the vehicles that use the car park, and keep the top of the structure within 4m if you're relying on permitted development.
• Wind and snow: a carport is effectively a large sail. The design must be checked by a structural engineer for the site's exposure.
• Impact protection: posts need protection from vehicle strikes, especially near entrances and turning areas.

Foundations and groundworks

• A ground investigation tells the engineer whether pad foundations will do or piles are needed.
• A buried services survey is essential: car parks often hide drainage, lighting cables, gas and telecoms.
• Plan cable ducts for the inverters, chargers and future bays at the same time, while the surface is open.

Drainage

A canopy concentrates rainfall onto narrow strips. Class OA requires run-off from a canopy over a permeable surface to be directed to a permeable or porous area. Over tarmac, the installer should show how gutters and downpipes tie into existing drainage without causing ponding or ice.

Lighting and security

A canopy can block existing column lighting. Most designs add LED lighting under the canopy, sometimes letting you remove old columns. Think about CCTV sightlines too.

Solar carport costs: what drives the price

There is no official UK price series for solar carports. The government's DESNZ solar cost data, which puts 10-50kW systems at a median £1,262/kW, comes from small MCS-registered installations, mostly on roofs, and doesn't separate out canopies. So we won't quote you a made-up carport figure. What we can tell you is what moves the price:

• The structure: steel or aluminium, span, clearance height and wind exposure.
• Foundations: ground conditions, piling, and buried services to work around.
• Scale: fixed costs such as design, planning and grid work spread over more bays bring the cost per kW down.
• Electrical work: distance to the building's intake, trenching, and any grid upgrade.
• Extras: EV chargers, batteries, lighting, rainwater systems and resurfacing.
• Disruption: phasing so the car park stays open adds time.

Tax and rates

HMRC designates solar panels as special-rate plant, so the Annual Investment Allowance (up to £1 million a year) can cover them, and companies can claim the 50% first-year allowance above that. The canopy structure may not count as plant in the same way, so ask your accountant to split the costs between panels, electrics, chargers and structure. Read solar panels and capital allowances. In England, plant and machinery used to generate or store power from on-site renewables (solar included, and batteries where the power stored is mainly or exclusively renewable) is excluded from rateable value until 1 April 2035. Wales (from 1 April 2024) and Scotland (from 1 April 2023) have equivalent exemptions running to 2035. Adding panels to your roof shouldn't raise your rates bill.

No upfront budget? On larger car parks, a funder may build and own the carport and sell you the power. See commercial solar PPAs.

What to prepare, what to ask, and next steps

Have these ready

• A site plan of the car park with the number of bays, entrances and any nearby houses.
• Who owns the car park, and landlord consent if you lease it.
• Twelve months of electricity data for the building the carport would supply.
• The vehicles that use the car park, including the tallest.
• Your EV charging plans: how many sockets, for whom, and when.

Questions to ask every installer

• Does the design fit Class OA, and will you handle the prior approval application?
• Who designs and certifies the structure and foundations?
• How will you drain the canopy, and how will you replace any lighting it blocks?
• Who handles the DNO application, and what happens if export is limited?
• Can you install the EV chargers and claim the Workplace Charging Scheme grant on our behalf before it ends?

Next steps

1. Tell us about the car park using the form.
2. One suitable commercial installer contacts you to arrange a survey. You won't be passed round a list.
3. Survey, ground checks and design, with a generation and savings model.
4. Prior approval or planning, plus DNO approval and any landlord consent.
5. Build in phases to keep the car park working, then commission, register for the SEG and switch on the chargers.

For grants across every technology, see our business energy grants hub.

Looking for a solar carport for your home?

Plenty of people searching "solar carport" have a driveway, not a car park. Domestic solar carports exist, but they're a different, much smaller product: usually one or two bays, often a timber or aluminium kit with panels on top, wired into the house.

• Class OA doesn't apply. It specifically excludes parking for houses and flats, so the business rules on this page don't cover your driveway. Check your council's householder rules before you buy.
• A roof is usually cheaper. If your house roof faces roughly south, east or west and isn't shaded, rooftop panels normally give more power for less money.
• 0% VAT can apply. Solar panels installed on residential property are zero-rated until 31 March 2027. Ask your installer how that applies to a carport.

Start with our home solar panels guide, and see solar panels with EV charging if you want to charge your car from the sun.