The government has quietly dropped proposals to make solar panels mandatory on all new car parks in England. The decision, first reported by Planning Resource, removes what would have been one of the largest single sources of new renewable capacity outside the domestic rooftop programme.
As Planning Resource reports, the proposal was part of a wider review of non-domestic building regulations and has now been shelved without a public consultation. The move goes against advice from the Climate Change Committee, which recommended solar on all new non-residential buildings, including car parks.
What this costs a typical 3-bed semi
You might not own a car park. But you pay for one every time you turn on the lights. Network charges, the cost of maintaining the grid, make up about 18% of a typical household electricity bill. Ofgem figures show that for a 3-bed semi using 3,000 kWh a year, that’s roughly £120 annually.
When large solar arrays feed electricity directly into the local distribution network, they reduce the need for expensive grid upgrades. Less solar means more transmission infrastructure, which means higher standing charges for every household. The Energy Saving Trust estimates that every 1 GW of distributed solar reduces network reinforcement costs by about £40 million over ten years. Scrapping car park solar, which could have delivered up to 15 GW by 2035, effectively adds hundreds of millions to future network bills.
Who qualifies, and who doesn’t
The dropped proposal applied only to new car parks over a certain size threshold, typically those associated with supermarkets, retail parks, and business estates. Existing car parks were not affected. The decision does not prevent voluntary installation, and some chains, including Lidl and IKEA, already cover their car parks with solar canopies.
But voluntary schemes are patchy. Without a mandate, the UK misses the chance to turn 300,000 hectares of tarmac, roughly the area of Greater Manchester, into productive energy assets. Solar car parks generate electricity during peak daylight hours, exactly when demand from electric vehicle charging and home cooling spikes.
What this misses for homeowners
Yet the real missed opportunity is for local energy sharing. Car park solar could have been wired directly to nearby homes through private wire arrangements, cutting out the grid entirely. Under current rules, a community group could buy power from a supermarket car park at 8p/kWh instead of the 24p/kWh typical on a standard variable tariff.
The catch is that the government has also weakened local energy trading rules. The Energy Act 2023 promised a Local Power Purchase Agreement framework, but secondary legislation has been delayed. Without it, even willing car park owners cannot sell cheap solar to neighbours. The result: homeowners keep paying retail prices while solar generation sits stranded behind grid constraints.
What to do now
Homeowners should not wait for policy. If you live near a supermarket or retail park, ask the landlord whether they plan to install solar canopies. Write to your MP and ask why the government dropped the mandate without a replacement. For your own home, solar panels remain the most cost-effective way to cut bills: a typical 4 kW system saves £500-£700 a year on electricity, according to Energy Saving Trust estimates.
The government’s next opportunity is the Solar Taskforce, due to report in late 2025. If it recommends reinstating the car park mandate, homeowners should support it, not for the sake of a car park, but for the standing charge on your own bill.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not directly under current rules. Private wire agreements require the car park owner to have a generation licence or exemption, and local energy trading frameworks from the Energy Act 2023 are not yet in force. Check with your local MP whether the government plans to enable community energy sharing.
Indirectly, yes. Network charges, which cover grid upgrades, are spread across all households. Less distributed solar means more transmission infrastructure is needed, which increases standing charges. Ofgem sets these annually, and the impact is typically £5-£15 per household per year for each 1 GW of missed solar capacity.
