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Soon every parking lot in France that greater than about 16000 square feet will be required to install solar panel canopies over at least half of the parking area. The law will go into effect in July and will give parking lot owners up to 5 years to comply. Due to France’s high reliance on nuclear power, it is already contributes less to global warming than most other countries. This law will help France get to the EU goal of being carbon neutral (hopefully long before the risible EU deadline of 2050). As vehicles transition from gas and diesel to electric the added electricity generated will help fulfill the charging demand of more electric vehicles on the road, in addition to providing shaded parking for vehicles during the summer heat.
The efficiency of solar panels has increased but the cost to produce them has plummeted, whereas the cost to build new nuclear power plants continues to escalate. The installed capacity of the mandated parking lot solar canopies is estimated to generate between 6.75 and 11.25 gigawatts of electricity at a cost of approximately 8.7 to 14.6 billion dollars. Compare that to the nuclear power plant under construction at Flamanville that has had cost overruns and is estimate to produce an average of just one gigawatt at a cost of over $14 billion. The disparity may grow even higher as solar panel efficiency continues to increase and production costs decrease.
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