PV Carports and Canopies The Dual Use of Already Sealed Surfaces

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Parking lots are considered a sealed necessity of modern mobility. Solar carports and PV canopies for large parking and traffic areas promise clean energy, shade for vehicles, and an energy transition without additional land use conflicts with agriculture.

When it comes to expanding photovoltaics, most people first think of roofs or large open-space installations in rural areas. Yet, one of the most obvious land reserves has long been sealed and unused right in front of us: the parking lot.

The Space is Already There

Every supermarket, exhibition center, or company parking lot has hundreds or thousands of square meters of asphalt that sit in the sun all day—doing nothing more than hosting cars. This is exactly where solar carports come in: they double the use of an area without requiring new land to be sealed or taken from agriculture.

This is a crucial difference from traditional open-field solar parks, which regularly compete with arable land and are accordingly debated controversially. Carport systems completely avoid this conflict of objectives because the area is already sealed and economically "used up."

An Example from Practice: Essen (Germany)

The potential is demonstrated by a current project in Essen (Germany). On the P10 trade fair parking lot, one of Germany's largest solar carport facilities is being constructed in collaboration between the energy tech company Enpal and the general contractor ROOF+. Around 25,000 solar modules are to be installed over approximately 53,000 square meters (approx. 13 acres), with a capacity of over 11 megawatts and a planned annual production of around 11.5 million kilowatt-hours. Construction is scheduled to begin in fall 2026, pending approval.

For comparison: To meet the goals of the Renewable Energy Sources Act, around 10 gigawatts of solar capacity would need to be installed annually on German rooftops—yet in 2025, it was only about 3 gigawatts on smaller rooftop systems. Large commercial and parking lot spaces are therefore increasingly seen as the lever that could significantly accelerate expansion.

More Than Just Electricity: The Added Benefit for Cars

What makes solar carports particularly attractive compared to other PV forms is the dual benefit for the vehicles themselves:

• Protection from weather: The modules also serve as a roof—cars are shielded from rain, hail, and strong UV radiation.
• Cooler interiors: In summer, the vehicle interior stays significantly cooler than in an open parking lot, reducing air conditioning use and material wear.
• Electricity directly at the point of consumption: The generated solar power can be used immediately where it is produced—for the charging infrastructure of parked electric cars as well as for the connected supermarket, shopping mall, or exhibition hall. Long transport distances and grid losses are largely eliminated.

Why This Matters for the Energy Transition

Especially for companies with large parking areas—logistics centers, production sites, retail, exhibition grounds—this presents an economically attractive solution that works independently of roof space. Where the roof is insufficient for the desired plant size or unavailable, the parking lot becomes a fully-fledged power plant.

Solar carports could become an important component of the energy transition in the future because they address several challenges at once: competition for land with agriculture, lack of roof capacity, and the growing demand for charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.

Enpal Is Currently Strategically Expanding This Area

The fact that Essen (Germany) is not meant to remain an isolated case is evident in the strategy behind the project. Enpal has entered into a long-term partnership with ROOF+, a general contractor from Bochum (Germany) specializing in solar carports—Essen is merely the starting point of this collaboration. Enpal entered the commercial market just around two years ago but has since already completed over 70 projects and secured more than 160 systems with a volume of approximately 55 megawatts under contract. With ROOF+ as a partner for planning, permitting, and steel construction, the company now aims to strategically scale this division further. The Essen project is therefore less of a standalone project and more of a signal: major players are now actively positioning themselves to transform parking lot PV from a niche topic to a standard model.