This disclosure relates to the set-up, activation, and deactivation of sidelink carrier aggregation, and includes a method and apparatus for transmitting or receiving a reference signal to a second UE on a designated sidelink component carrier as part of an initial beam scanning procedure; receiving a configuration message from a network entity indicating one or more additional sidelink component carriers for the first UE and the second UE; and communicating with the second UE via a sidelink corresponding to at least one of the one or more additional sidelink component carriers or the designated sidelink component carrier based on the configuration message on a sidelink beam pairing performed in the designated sidelink component carrier, wherein the first UE and the second UE are configured in coverage with the network entity.