10/01/2026
Some of the most useful space for expanding solar energy may already be covered in asphalt. Large parking lots at shopping centers, offices, airports, hospitals, and other facilities receive substantial sunlight while serving only one primary purpose. Installing photovoltaic panels on elevated canopies allows these developed areas to generate electricity without requiring additional open land. The approach can also reduce competition for agricultural acreage, an issue researchers have documented as utility-scale solar expands in rural areas.
The land question deserves careful perspective. U.S. Department of Agriculture research found that more than 70 percent of utility-scale solar projects built in rural America between 2012 and 2020 were located on cropland or pasture-rangeland. Solar development still occupies a relatively small share of total farmland, and agriculture can sometimes continue around solar installations. Even so, using already-developed locations such as rooftops and parking areas can add renewable generation without directly converting farmland.
Solar parking canopies offer other practical benefits. Their panels shade pavement and parked vehicles while producing electricity that can serve nearby buildings. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has also identified photovoltaic parking canopies as a way to shade paved surfaces, which absorb substantial solar heat. Electricity generated on-site can additionally support electric-vehicle charging equipment.
There are tradeoffs: elevated structures are generally more complicated and expensive to build than conventional ground-mounted arrays, and every site requires engineering and economic evaluation. But where conditions are suitable, parking lots provide something increasingly valuable—a large existing footprint that can perform two jobs at once. Instead of treating renewable energy and land conservation as competing goals, solar canopies show how thoughtful placement can help pursue both.
