A solar parking lot does more than just generate electricity. By building solar carports over existing parking spaces, companies can combine solar panels, electric vehicle charging, battery storage, and smart energy management in the same space. The result is a parking lot that also becomes an active part of the property’s energy system.
Businesses already have parking spaces. They already have electricity needs and a grid connection. And as electrification progresses, more and more businesses are also acquiring electric vehicles that need to be charged.
The question is: Why should the parking area be used only for parking?
By installing solar panels over the parking lot, an existing space can serve multiple purposes at once. The solar panels generate electricity close to the building. Charging stations make it possible to use that electricity directly to charge electric vehicles. A battery can store excess electricity until it is needed. Smart energy management connects the systems and controls how the available electricity is used.
The result is more than just a solar power plant.
It is a local energy system built on land that is already in use.
Why use the parking lot for solar panels?
When companies are considering installing solar panels, the roof is often the first place they look.
However, many commercial properties have another large available space: the parking lot.
Offices, industrial facilities, hotels, shopping centers, business parks, and other commercial properties may have large areas designated for parking. These areas already serve an important function, but they can do more.
A solar car park uses solar carports to add new functions above the parking spaces without taking away their original purpose.
The same space can be used for:
- Parking
- Protection from the sun, rain, and snow
- Local Electricity Generation from Solar Cells
- Electric vehicle charging
- Battery storage
- Smart Energy Management
Instead of using additional land for electricity generation, companies can create more value from an area that is already in use.
The parking space remains a parking space—but at the same time becomes part of the property's energy system.
Why generate electricity close to where it is used?
For a commercial property, where the electricity is generated can be almost as important as how much electricity is generated.
Large-scale solar farms are important for generating large amounts of renewable electricity. However, they serve a different purpose than local electricity generation at a commercial property.
Electricity generated far from the consumer must be fed into the power grid and transmitted through the grid before it reaches businesses and other users.
With solar panels installed over the company's own parking lot, some of the electricity can instead be generated just a few meters from where it will be used.
Electricity from the solar carport can, for example, be used directly by the building, to charge an electric car, or to charge a battery.
Instead of:
Solar Park → Power Grid → Operations
Some of the electricity may go:
Solar Parking → Building / Electric Vehicle Charging / Battery
and any electricity that is not used or stored on site can be fed into the power grid.
The power grid remains a central part of the system. The difference is that businesses have more options for controlling how much electricity is purchased from the grid, used immediately, stored, or sold.
What does electricity generation "behind the meter" mean?
Electricity generation behind the meter, often referred to as “behind-the-meter,” means that electricity is generated and used on the customer’s side of the meter.
For a commercial property, electricity from the solar parking lot can, for example, be used directly in the building, to charge electric vehicles, or to charge a battery before any surplus is fed into the power grid.
This can be important for the financial performance of the solar power system.
One kilowatt-hour of solar power does not necessarily have the same economic value, depending on how it is used.
Solar power fed into the grid is sold at the price and under the terms that apply to electricity sales. Solar power used directly on-site, on the other hand, can reduce the amount of electricity the business needs to purchase from the grid.
For this reason, self-consumption of solar power is often an important part of the cost analysis for a commercial solar power plant.
So the goal doesn't have to be just:
How much electricity can our solar panels generate?
An issue that is at least as important is:
How much value can we generate from each kilowatt-hour produced by the solar panels?
This is where the combination of several techniques becomes particularly interesting.
The Solar Cell Parking Lot as a Platform for Multiple Technologies
A commercial solar parking lot does not have to be viewed as a standalone solar power plant.
The solar carport creates a physical platform where multiple technologies can be combined into a single energy system.
Think of it as several layers:
Parking → Solar Panels → Electric Vehicle Charging → Battery Storage → Smart Energy Management
Each level adds another function to the parking area.
Furthermore, when the system is designed to meet the actual needs of the business, the technologies can complement each other and maximize the benefits of the entire investment.
Level 1: Solar Cells – Turn the Parking Lot into a Power Generation Site
The first step is simple: generate electricity above a space that is already being used for parking.
The company doesn't have to choose between parking and electricity generation. The same land area can be used for both.
This may be of particular interest to businesses that have already utilized suitable rooftop areas, have limited available rooftop space, or simply have large parking areas.
The solar-powered carport provides both vehicles and people with protection from the sun, rain, and snow.
With bifacial solar panels, even sunlight reflected from the ground can contribute to electricity generation.
Bifacial solar panels can capture sunlight from both the front and the back. Light reflected from the ground—known as albedo —can reach the back of the panels and contribute to additional electricity generation.
The parking area now serves several purposes:
Parking + weather protection + electricity generation from solar panels.
But electricity generation is only the first layer.
Tier 2: Electric Vehicle Charging – Use Electricity Where It Is Produced
Parking and electric vehicle charging go hand in hand: the vehicles are already stationary at the location.
This creates an opportunity to use some of the electricity generated by the solar panels directly to charge the vehicles.
An employee may arrive at work in the morning and drive home in the afternoon. A hotel guest may park overnight. A company’s vehicle fleet may return to the same location every day.
These parking periods make it possible to manage charging based on how much electricity the solar panels produce, the building's other electricity needs, and how much power is available.
When charging stations are integrated with a solar parking lot, a larger portion of the locally generated electricity can be used directly on site.
Instead of viewing solar panels and charging infrastructure as two separate investments, they can be designed as parts of the same system.
The parking lot will be:
A place to park → a place to generate electricity → a place to charge vehicles.
For companies that are electrifying their vehicle fleets, the link between local electricity generation and charging may be of particular interest.
Level 3: Battery Storage – Store excess electricity until it is needed
Solar panels do not always generate the most electricity at the same time that the business is using the most electricity.
In the middle of the day, for example, the solar panels may generate more electricity than the building and charging stations need at that moment. Later in the day, demand may be higher, while the solar panels generate less electricity.
A battery energy storage system, often referred to as a BESS (Battery Energy Storage System), can help even out the difference.
Instead of feeding all excess electricity directly into the grid, some of it can be stored in the battery and used later.
The flow will be:
Generate electricity → Store excess electricity → Use the electricity when needed
Depending on the business’s electricity consumption, electricity contract, capacity charges, grid connection, and battery sizing, battery storage can be used, among other things, to:
- Increase Self-Consumption of Solar Power
- Curb Power Peaks
- Shift electricity usage to different times of day
- Support Electric Vehicle Charging
- Manage the organization's power requirements
- Make better use of available network capacity
In other words, the battery does more than just store excess electricity from the solar panels.
This gives the business greater control over when the locally generated electricity is used.
Level 4: Smart Energy Management – Use Electricity Where It's Most Useful
When solar panels, charging stations, batteries, and the building's electricity consumption are connected, every kilowatt-hour produced by the solar panels can be used in different ways.
Should the electricity:
- Used directly in the building?
- Charging an electric vehicle?
- Store excess energy in the battery?
- Help reduce a power peak?
- Or fed into the power grid?
The best option may change throughout the day.
This is where an energy management system, also known as an Energy Management System (EMS), becomes important.
An EMS can monitor how much electricity the solar panels produce, the building’s electricity consumption, the battery’s charge level, and the vehicles’ charging needs. The system can also take into account factors such as electricity prices and available power.
Instead of each technology operating separately, the entire facility can be controlled as a single, integrated system.
The goal is:
Using locally produced electricity where and when it creates the most value.
Can solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicle charging improve profitability?
More technology does not automatically mean greater profitability.
Every component costs money and should address an actual business need.
But when solar panels, electric vehicle charging, battery storage, and energy management complement one another, the entire system can generate greater benefits than if each technology were considered a separate investment.
The principle is simple:
The solar cells generate electricity.
Charging electric vehicles creates additional demand for locally generated electricity.
The battery makes it possible to store excess electricity and use it at a later time.
Energy management coordinates how and when electricity is used.
And beneath the entire system is a space that the business already needs:
the parking lot.
The goal, then, is not to install as much technology as possible.
The goal is to choose the right combination of technologies so that the business can make better use of the parking area, the utility connection, and locally generated electricity.
The same parking area can then provide several types of value:
Electricity generation + self-consumption of solar power + electric vehicle charging + flexibility + protection against the elements + better use of existing land.
What does that look like in practice?
The principle is not merely theoretical. Innoventum has carried out solar carport projects in which several of these technologies are combined in a single system.
As part of a project, a solar carport was installed with 15 bifacial solar panels and a total installed capacity of 6.3 kWp. The system was combined with a 10 kWh battery and an electric vehicle charging station.
This means that the same system can generate electricity from the solar panels, use that electricity to charge the car, and store excess electricity in the battery for later use.
The project is relatively small compared to a large commercial parking lot, but it illustrates the principle itself:
Solar Cells + Electric Car Charging + Battery = Multiple Uses for the Same Locally Generated Electricity.
For a commercial property, the same principle can be scaled based on the number of parking spaces, the business's electricity consumption, the need for electric vehicle charging, and available grid capacity.
That is why the size of the solar power system should not be the only factor to consider. What matters is how well electricity generation and consumption can be aligned.
From Electricity Consumer to Local Energy System
Traditionally, a commercial property's connection to the power grid has been relatively simple:
Power Grid → Building
The power grid supplies electricity, and the business uses it.
With solar panels, battery storage, and electric vehicle charging, the system becomes more dynamic.
A commercial property can generate its own electricity, use it directly, store excess electricity, use the electricity to charge vehicles, and feed any remaining electricity into the grid.
The property thus transitions from being merely an electricity consumer to becoming a more active part of the energy system.
The solar-powered parking lot is particularly interesting in this context because it brings together three areas:
Real Estate + Energy + Mobility
As more vehicles become electric, these areas will become increasingly interconnected.
A solar parking lot doesn't have to be large-scale
An integrated energy system does not have to consist of hundreds or thousands of parking spaces.
Even a small commercial parking lot can combine solar panels, electric vehicle charging, battery storage, and smart energy management.
The decisive factor is not just the size of the facility.
It depends on how well the system is tailored to the organization's needs.
A small solar parking lot with a high level of self-consumption of solar power, smart electric vehicle charging, and a properly sized battery may have a completely different business case than a larger solar power plant whose primary purpose is to maximize electricity production.
Therefore, a commercial solar parking lot should be designed based on more than just how many solar panels or parking spaces it can accommodate.
Some of the most important issues are:
How much electricity does the business use?
When does the business use the most electricity?
How many vehicles need to be charged?
When are the vehicles parked?
How much power is available from the utility connection?
When do solar panels produce the most electricity?
Based on these factors, it is possible to determine which combination of solar panels, charging, battery storage, and energy management best suits the business.
From Parking Lot to Energy Resource
For a long time, commercial parking lots have been passive infrastructure.
A vehicle arrives, stays parked for a few hours, and then drives away.
But local electricity generation and electrified transportation are changing the ways in which parking spaces can be used.
A solar parking lot can turn that same space into a site for local electricity generation.
Electric vehicle charging makes it possible to use the electricity generated right where the vehicles are parked.
Battery storage makes it possible to save excess electricity for later use.
Smart energy management connects the various components and controls how electricity is used.
The result is a different way of looking at commercial parking lots.
Instead of just asking:
“Where can we install more solar panels?”
Companies should also ask:
“Which parts of our property are currently performing only one function, when they could be performing several?”
For many commercial properties, one of these areas is already located right outside the building.
The parking lot.
Frequently Asked Questions About Solar Parking and Solar Carports
What is a solar parking lot?
A solar parking lot is a parking area where solar panels are installed on solar carports above the parking spaces. This allows the same space to be used for parking, weather protection, and on-site electricity generation. The system can also be combined with electric vehicle charging, battery storage, and smart energy management.
What is the difference between a solar parking lot and a solar carport?
A solar parking lot refers to the entire parking solution, while a solar carport typically refers to the structure itself—with a roof and solar panels—spanning one or more parking spaces. A larger solar parking lot can therefore consist of several solar carports.
Why install solar panels over a parking lot?
Solar panels installed over the parking lot make it possible to generate electricity in a space that is already in use. The company does not have to choose between parking and electricity generation, and the solar carport also provides weather protection and can be combined with electric vehicle charging and battery storage.
What does "behind-the-meter" mean?
"Behind-the-meter"—or electricity generation behind the meter—means that electricity is generated on the customer's side of the meter and can be used directly on-site. For example, electricity from a solar parking lot can be used in the building, to charge electric vehicles, or to charge a battery before any surplus is fed into the power grid.
Can a solar parking lot increase the amount of solar power used for personal consumption?
Yes. Since the solar panels can be installed close to the building, the charging stations, and the facility’s other electricity-consuming operations, it’s possible to use a larger portion of the electricity directly on-site. Battery storage and smart charging can provide additional flexibility. The extent of self-consumption depends on when the solar panels generate electricity and when the facility uses it.
Can a solar carport be combined with electric vehicle charging?
Yes. Solar-powered carports and electric vehicle charging complement each other because the vehicles are already parked at the solar installation. Charging can also be controlled based on how much electricity the solar panels produce, the property’s other electricity consumption, and how much power is available.
Can battery storage improve the profitability of a solar parking lot?
It can do that. A battery can store excess electricity from solar panels for later use and can also be used for purposes such as peak shaving and load control. Whether the battery improves the investment’s profitability depends, among other things, on the business’s electricity consumption, electricity prices, power charges, battery cost, and grid connection.
Does a commercial solar parking lot have to be large?
No. A solar parking lot can include both small commercial parking lots and significantly larger parking areas. The appropriate size depends, among other things, on the available space, the facility’s electricity consumption, the need for electric vehicle charging, the grid connection, and the project’s objectives.
What technologies can be combined in a solar parking lot?
A solar parking lot can combine solar panels with electric vehicle charging, battery storage, and smart energy management. When these technologies are designed as an integrated system, the parking lot can transform from a passive space into an active part of the building’s energy system.
Would you like to make better use of your parking space?
Innoventum is developing solar carports for commercial properties where on-site electricity generation can be combined with electric vehicle charging, battery storage, and smart energy management.
Contact us to discuss the options available for your parking area.
