PPLAN supports the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) in its call for solar on car park canopies. The call is made following the government’s publication of its consultation on putting solar panels on car park canopies. You can read the full post on the CPRE website by clicking here.
Use of car parks, such as the at the Bentley Motors headquarters in Crewe (shown below) could form part of what CPRE calls a “rooftop revolution”. This would, according to CPRE, enable the UK to have clean energy whilst protecting the countryside, instead of needing to make a choice between one or the other.
Putting solar on roofs not on fields is relevant to the Monksfield Solar Farm, as if solar energy could be created from solar panels on roofs, we would be able to create the promised 49.9 MW of energy without the need to destroy 271 acres of traditional British countryside.
You can also find out more about the CPRE’s rooftop revolution by reading the report it commissioned from University College London’s (UCL) Energy Institute. UCL suggested that car parks could deliver 11.4GW of solar energy, with a total of 40GW by 2035 by combining this with solar installations on new builds and commercial buildings.
