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Law 2023-175 of March 10, 2023 on the acceleration of renewable energy production, known as the APER law, requires parking lots of over 1,500 m² to install shading systems incorporating a renewable energy production process for at least half of this surface area.
This applies to parking lots existing on July 1, 2023, and those for which planning permission applications have been submitted on or after March 10, 2023.
Link to blog article: What are the new obligations for parking lots? - https://www.tennaxia.com/blog/
Application decree no. 2024-1023 of November 13, 2024 :
- define the calculation of the surface area of the parking lots concerned;
- specify exemption criteria.
Definition of parking area
The following must be taken into account when calculating the surface area :
- parking spaces for vehicles and their trailers located off the public highway, within a perimeter between the park's entrance(s) and exit(s);
- traffic lanes and paths, facilities and toll areas providing access to these sites.
The following zones are not included in the calculation:
- green spaces, rest areas ;
- storage, logistics, handling, loading and unloading areas;
- areas where vehicles carrying dangerous goods are parked (vehicles displaying the orange sign);
- parts located less than ten meters from certain ICPEs defined by the order of December 4, 2024 (headings 1312, 1413, 1414, 1416, 1434, 1435, 1436, 2160, 2260-1, 2311, 2410, 2565, headings 27XX (except headings 2715, 2720, 2750, 2751 and 2752), headings 2925, 3260, 3460, headings 35XX, heading 3670 and headings 4XXX of the nomenclature);
- the areas required to comply with the requirements applicable to ICPEs or to apply the requirements of prefectoral decrees imposing access roads and parking areas for emergency equipment (set by the decree of December 4, 2024).
Pooling the obligation between several managers
As a reminder, when several parking lots are adjacent to each other, managers may, by mutual agreement, share this obligation.
Adjacent parking lots are defined as those belonging to the same land unit, understood as a single block made up of one or more parcels belonging to the same owner or joint ownership.
This mutualization agreement is supported by a certificate of agreement setting out the technical details of its implementation, which is made available to the agents responsible for verifying these obligations.
Exemption criteria
Decree no. 2024-1023 of November 13, 2024 and the Order of December 4, 2024 specify the exemption criteria. Parking lots are exempt if it can be demonstrated that their installation is impossible due to technical, heritage or economic constraints.
Technical constraints and impossibilities :
- related to the nature of the soil (geological composition or slope) ;
- linked to a technical impossibility of not aggravating a natural or technological risk relating to civil security or national security. The following are exempt, under conditions set by decree:
- parking lots for vehicles carrying dangerous goods (vehicles displaying orange signs);
- outdoor parking lots constituting facilities classified for environmental protection under headings 1413, 1414, 1416, 1421, 1434, 1435 and 2925 of the nomenclature;
- car parks where motorized vehicles with a gross vehicle weight exceeding 3.5 tonnes are parked. For certain parts of these parks, the exemption period ends on January 1, 2028.
- making the use of the park incompatible with the installation of the shades.
Heritage constraints :
Linked in particular to classified or listed sites, to land classified or listed as a historical monument, or when the implementation of these systems is incompatible with the application of provisions of the Environmental Code aimed at preserving the environment.
Economic constraints :
- technical constraints or insufficient sunlight resulting in investment costs that significantly affect the profitability of the plant:
Profitability is affected when the discounted cost of the energy that can be produced over 20 years is higher than the value of the feed-in tariff or reference tariff used to calculate the income that can be obtained from the sale of electricity generated by the plant, multiplied by a coefficient equal to 1.2. Discounted costs and revenues take into account a discount rate of 3%.
- total cost (excluding VAT) of the work required to meet this obligation, which compromises the economic viability of the parking lot operator or its initial financing capacity;
- the total cost, excluding tax, of the work required is excessive
Parking lots where the cost of installing these systems exceeds :
- 15% of the total cost (excluding VAT) of creating or renovating the parking lot;
- 10% of the market value of the existing stock, provided that the sole purpose of the work is to comply with the obligation.
Other exemptions :
- the park is shaded by broad-canopied trees that contribute or are likely to contribute to shading the park, distributed throughout the park at a rate of one tree for every three parking spaces;
- the park is located within the perimeter of a development action or operation, or in a concerted development zone, where one of the adjoining lots or parcels is intended for a construction likely, by virtue of its footprint and size, to qualify for certain exemptions (temporary exemption granted for 5 years, extendable once).
Finally, an exemption is provided for when the operator implements renewable energy production processes that do not require the installation of shading systems, provided that they enable equivalent energy production.
The processes concerned are those mentioned in the Energy Code, i.e.: 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, gas from wastewater treatment plants and biogas.
A decree is expected to make the obligation to provide shade compatible with the presence of electric vehicle recharging facilities for heavy goods vehicles.