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Law No. 2023-175 of March 10, 2023, on the acceleration of renewable energy production, known as the APER law, requires parking lots larger than 1,500 m² to install solar carports covering at least half of that area.
This applies to parking lots existing as of July 1, 2023, and those for which a planning permit application was submitted on or after March 10, 2023.
Link to our blog post on the subject: What are the new requirements for parking lots?
Implementing Decree No. 2024-1023 of November 13, 2024, serves to:
- define how the surface area of affected parking lots is calculated;
- specify exemption criteria.
Defining parking lot surface area
The following must be included in the surface area calculation:
- spaces intended for parking vehicles and their trailers located off public roads, within the perimeter between the entrance(s) and exit(s) of the lot;
- traffic lanes and pathways, facilities, and toll areas providing access to these spaces.
The following areas are excluded from the calculation:
- green spaces and rest areas;
- storage zones, logistics areas, and loading/unloading bays;
- areas where vehicles transporting hazardous goods (vehicles displaying orange signage) are parked;
- areas located within ten meters of certain ICPE facilities specified by the order of December 4, 2024 (headings 1312, 1413, 1414, 1416, 1434, 1435, 1436, 2160, 2260-1, 2311, 2410, 2565, headings 27XX (except 2715, 2720, 2750, 2751, and 2752), headings 2925, 3260, 3460, headings 35XX, heading 3670, and headings 4XXX of the nomenclature);
- the areas required to implement the requirements applicable to ICPEs or to apply the provisions of prefectural decrees mandating access routes and parking areas for emergency vehicles (as established by the decree of December 4, 2024).
Pooling the obligation between multiple operators
As a reminder, when several parking lots are adjacent, operators may, by mutual agreement, pool this obligation.
Adjacent parking lots are defined as those belonging to the same land unit, understood as a single contiguous block composed of one or more plots belonging to the same owner or the same joint ownership.
This pooling agreement must be justified by a certificate of agreement specifying the technical terms of its implementation, which must be made available to the agents responsible for verifying these obligations.
Exemption criteria
Decree No. 2024-1023 of November 13, 2024, and the decree of December 4, 2024, specify the exemption criteria. Parking lots are exempt when it is demonstrated that installation is impossible due to technical, heritage, or economic constraints.
Technical constraints and impossibility:
- related to the nature of the soil (geological composition or slope);
- related to a technical impossibility of avoiding the aggravation of a natural or technological risk concerning civil security or national security. The following are therefore exempt, under conditions set by decree:
- parking lots for vehicles transporting dangerous goods (vehicles displaying orange signage);
- outdoor parking lots that are classified installations for environmental protection under headings 1413, 1414, 1416, 1421, 1434, 1435, and 2925 of the nomenclature;
- parking lots for motor vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating exceeding 3.5 tonnes. For certain parts of these parking lots, the exemption period ends on January 1, 2028.
- making the use of the parking lot incompatible with the installation of solar carports.
Heritage constraints:
Related in particular to classified or registered sites, land classified or registered as historical monuments, or when the installation of these devices is incompatible with the application of environmental code provisions aimed at preserving the environment.
Economic constraints:
- technical constraints or insufficient sunlight resulting in investment costs that significantly undermine the profitability of the installation:
Profitability is considered affected when the discounted cost of the energy that can be produced over 20 years exceeds the value of the feed-in tariff or the reference tariff used to calculate the revenue from the sale of the electricity produced by the installation, multiplied by a coefficient of 1.2. Discounted costs and revenues are calculated using a 3% discount rate.
- total pre-tax cost of the work required to meet this obligation, compromising the economic viability of the parking lot operator or their initial financing capacity;
- excessive nature of the total pre-tax cost of the required work
Parking lots may be exempt from the obligation if the cost of the work required to install these systems exceeds:
- 15% of the total pre-tax cost of the work to create or renovate the parking lot;
- 10% of the market value of the existing parking lot, provided the sole purpose of the work is to comply with the obligation.
Other exemptions:
- the parking lot is shaded by large-canopy trees that contribute or are likely to contribute to shading the lot, distributed throughout the area at a ratio of one tree for every three parking spaces;
- the parking lot is located within the perimeter of a development project or a concerted development zone (ZAC), where one of the adjacent lots or plots is intended for a building that, due to its footprint and size, may qualify for certain exemptions (a provisional exemption granted for 5 years, renewable once).
Finally, an exemption is provided when the operator implements renewable energy production processes that do not require the installation of solar carports, provided they allow for equivalent energy production.
The processes concerned are those mentioned in the Energy Code, namely: wind energy, solar thermal or photovoltaic energy, geothermal energy, ambient energy, tidal, wave or osmotic energy and other marine energies, hydroelectric energy, biomass, landfill gas, sewage treatment plant gas, and biogas.
A decree is expected to reconcile the solar carport obligation with the presence of electric vehicle charging stations for heavy goods vehicles.
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