FARSUN has learned from foreign media that the French Senate has approved new legislation that will promote the deployment of renewable energy in France, and requires outdoor parking lots to install solar energy in accordance with the law.

Senator Jean-Pierre Corbisez stated that according to the law, outdoor large parking lots with over 80 parking spaces will be covered by solar photovoltaic power generation, which could potentially add 6.7GW to 11GW of solar energy installation capacity in the coming years. This will almost double France's solar energy installation capacity, as the installed capacity of solar energy in France was 13.2GW as of 2021.

Starting from July 1, 2023, parking lots with at least 80 and up to 400 parking spaces will have five years to comply with the new measures, while larger parking lots will need to implement these changes within three years.

In cases where technical, safety, construction, historical, or environmental constraints hinder the installation of solar roofs, some exceptions may apply.

Additionally, the law includes other measures such as increasing the requirements for non-residential roofs, requiring 50% of roofs to be covered by solar photovoltaic, higher than the previous requirement of 30%.

Several proposals regarding agricultural photovoltaic have also been adopted, including the removal of asbestos from agricultural roofs to support solar photovoltaic power generation, which will be implemented as a trial run in the next three years.

The French Renewable Energy Trade Association (known as SER in French) has welcomed several provisions proposed by the Senate, which will accelerate the deployment of renewable energy in France.