Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

(asked on 7th September 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of installing photovoltaic cells on all upward facing surfaces of electric car charging points.


Answered by
Anne-Marie Trevelyan Portrait
Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 15th September 2021

Solar energy is a key part of the Government’s strategy for decarbonisation of the energy sector and the Energy White Paper, published in December 2020, committed to ‘sustained growth’ in solar photovoltaics (PV) across the next decade.

Installing solar PV alongside electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints, particularly if also paired with battery storage, has a number of benefits. Smart and flexible solutions such as this can increase the use of renewable electricity and reduce demand on the grid. Reducing demand can in turn reduce the cost of connecting the chargepoints to the electricity network and avoid costly electricity network reinforcement.

The Government promotes the use of smart and flexible solutions for those seeking to install EV chargepoints. The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles provided grant funding to the UK’s first solar electric forecourt demonstrator project which is led by Gridserve and opened at the end of 2020. The Government has also published guidance on connecting EV chargepoints to the electricity network, which highlights that businesses should consider implementing flexible solutions. The guidance can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/connecting-electric-vehicle-chargepoints-to-the-electricity-network/connecting-electric-vehicle-chargepoints-to-the-electricity-network.

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