Solar carport installation FAQs

Installed solar carports typically run from about £6,000 to £12,000 per parking space (ex VAT), or around £1,100 to £1,600 per kWp at commercial scale, materially more than rooftop solar (£700-£1,050 per kWp) because the hot-dip galvanised steel structure and foundations are 40-50% of the job. Smaller structures run £1,200-£3,000 per kWp. As a guide, a 100-space commercial scheme is roughly £600,000-£1m ex VAT. Per-space cost falls as bay count rises, so larger car parks get materially better value.

There are eight stages: a free site survey and feasibility; structural and electrical design with a fixed line-item quote; the Class OA or Class 9M prior-approval application and the DNO G99 grid application (run in parallel); steel fabrication and procurement; groundworks and foundations; steel frame erection and canopy build; electrical works, testing and commissioning to MCS and BS 7671; and handover with warranties and an optional O&M plan. The consents and the grid connection run alongside fabrication so paperwork does not hold up the programme.

Expect roughly 2-3 months from go-ahead to energised for a commercial scheme, and a few weeks for a domestic carport. On-site build time is typically 1-3 weeks for a commercial car park and 2-5 days for a driveway carport. The longest items are the Class OA prior approval (a 56-day statutory clock) and the DNO G99 grid connection (often 8-16 weeks), which we start on day one and run in parallel.

Two main options, chosen from a ground survey. Helical screw piles are steel piles driven into the ground, each supporting 2-plus tonnes; they suit around 90% of sites, install fast and leave no wet concrete, so the car park comes back into use quickly. Where the ground cannot be penetrated, over services, membranes or contaminated land, we use ballasted or concrete footings held by weight or mass. Both are engineered to BS EN 1991 wind and snow loads and confirmed by the survey.

In England, usually not full planning. Since 21 December 2023, Class OA of the GPDO allows solar canopies over non-domestic off-street car parks under a prior-approval application rather than full planning, with a 56-day determination on siting, design and glare. Scotland has its own permitted-development right under Class 9M (in force 24 May 2024). Wales and Northern Ireland still need full planning. Full planning is also needed for listed buildings, scheduled monuments and canopies over 4m or within 10m of a dwelling. We prepare and submit whichever application applies.

Almost always, yes. G98 fit-and-inform only covers systems up to 3.68kW per phase, so most commercial carports need a G99 pre-approval from your Distribution Network Operator before installation. The DNO review takes up to about 45 working days, often 8-16 weeks, and it is usually the longest single item in the programme, so we submit it on day one. EV charging adds load that we coordinate into the same application.

Only in phases. We sequence the install so most bays stay open, closing and reopening sections rather than the whole car park, and we programme the disruptive stages, groundworks and steel erection, around your quiet periods or out of hours. The only full outage is the final grid connection, typically a few hours, scheduled out of hours. For a domestic carport the driveway is usually usable within 2-5 days.

Because a carport is a steel structure you build, not a roof you reuse. The columns, beams, canopy frame and foundations make up 40-50% of the total, which is why carports cost roughly two to three times rooftop per kWp. That fixed structural overhead is also why they get much better value at scale: a 250-space scheme spreads the steel cost across far more generating capacity than a 20-space one, pulling the per-kWp cost down toward the £1,100 floor.

Yes, and it is the most efficient way to deliver both. We design the carport with the EV conduit, cable routes and DNO capacity headroom from the groundworks stage, so daytime solar feeds the chargers at your generation cost rather than full grid retail. You can also claim the Workplace Charging Scheme grant on the sockets: up to 75% of cost, capped at £500 per socket (£2,000 for state-funded education), for up to 40 sockets, to 31 March 2027.

Carports size by parking bay, at about 2 kWp per standard bay (4-6 panels over roughly 12 sqm). At UK yields of around 900-950 kWh per kWp (lower in northern Scotland, higher in the south-west), a 2 kWp bay generates roughly 1,700-2,000 kWh a year. So a 100-bay car park is around 200 kWp and generates roughly 180,000-190,000 kWh annually, enough to make a real dent in site electricity costs and feed EV charging.

The Workplace Charging Scheme funds the EV sockets. The PV plant is special-rate expenditure, so it qualifies for the Annual Investment Allowance (100% on up to £1m a year) plus a 50% First-Year Allowance on the balance for companies, not full expensing. On-site generation is exempt from business rates in England to 31 March 2035. Public-sector sites may access Great British Energy funding. Take your own tax advice; we will give your accountant the figures.

No. The 0% VAT rate is a residential relief (in Great Britain to 31 March 2027, then 5%). Commercial buyers pay standard 20% VAT, which is recoverable if you are VAT-registered, so we quote prices ex VAT. A carport within the curtilage of a home may qualify for 0%, but HMRC does not expressly cover standalone structures, so we say confirm per project rather than assert it.

A domestic single- or double-bay driveway carport, usually with an EV charger and often a battery, typically costs £8,000-£25,000 including VAT, depending on size and whether storage is added. On-site build is fast, around 2-5 days. Where the inverter is 3.68kW per phase or less it connects under G98 fit-and-inform. Payback is generally longer than a roof install because of the structure, but the carport also shelters the car and carries home EV charging.

Yes. Canopies are engineered to BS EN 1991 (Eurocode 1) for UK wind and snow loading and BS EN 1993 for the steelwork, with foundations designed to the ground conditions in the survey. The steel is hot-dip galvanised for a 25-year-plus design life that matches the PV warranty, and the design is signed off by a structural engineer before fabrication. Construction runs under CDM 2015.

You get separate written warranties: typically a 25-year panel performance warranty and 10-15 year product warranty, an inverter warranty of 5-12 years, and a structural design life of 25-plus years on the galvanised steel, plus our own workmanship guarantee. We offer an optional O&M plan covering monitoring, cleaning cadence and periodic structural inspection, so you know exactly who is accountable for the canopy for its whole life.

Yes. We retrofit a purpose-built solar canopy over existing bays. The key checks are ground conditions for the foundations, the DNO capacity at your site, which sets how much you can export, and Class OA (or Class 9M in Scotland) compliance on height, glare and drainage. Retrofits suit retail, workplace, healthcare, education and logistics car parks that already have the tarmac and want shade, EV charging and cheaper power without losing spaces.