The EU rooftop solar market is constantly evolving and developing. Earlier this year, the European Commission proposed an EU solar roof initiative as part of the REPowerEU initiative.

Since then, the solar roof initiative has continued to ferment. Just last month, a coalition of 18 organizations urged EU member states to set requirements for installing solar on all new and refurbished buildings, as well as existing non-domestic buildings.

Currently, seven EU countries have mandatory solar energy regulations for refurbished buildings, and nine countries have mandatory solar energy installation regulations for new buildings, reports SolarPower Europe. In this context, more and more EU member states are joining this cohort.

The French Senate has approved new legislation that mandates the installation of solar energy in outdoor parking lots, which will boost the development of renewable energy in France.

French senator Jean-Pierre Corbisez said that large outdoor car parks with more than 80 parking spaces will be legally required to use solar photovoltaics, which will add 6.7-11GW of solar in the next few years, nearly doubling France's installed solar capacity . As of 2021, France has a solar capacity of 13.2GW.

Under the new rules, from July 1, 2023, car parks with at least 80 parking spaces and a maximum of 400 parking spaces will have five years to meet the new requirements, and larger car parks will need to implement changes within three years .

Certain exceptions may apply if technical, safety, architectural, historical or environmental constraints prevent solar roof installation.

Other measures passed by the law include increased requirements for non-residential roofs - 50% of which must be covered by solar photovoltaics, up from 30% previously.

Several proposals around agri-PV have also been adopted, including the removal of asbestos from agricultural roofs to support solar PV, which will be implemented as a pilot measure over the next three years.

The French Renewable Energy Trade Association (French: SER) welcomed several provisions proposed by the Senate that would accelerate the development of renewable energy in France.