Conception and design of a sustainable green roof for car parks with integrated solar tracking photovoltaic system

This paper presents the development of a novel sustainable green roof for car parks with an integrated solar tracking photovoltaic system. The emphasis in this work is placed on the study of the interaction between the photovoltaic panels, solar tracker, and green roof systems. A solar tracker design is developed based on multiple criteria such as maximum energy yield, optical interaction with the green roof, and aesthetical and structural integration. The results show that the proposed solar tracker system design leads to partial shade conditions for the plants located along the green roof. Based on this analysis, suitable species of plants are selected and their development results presented. The results show good integration between the solar photovoltaic tracker system and the growth of the plant species in the green roof, while maintaining an energy performance close to the theoretical maximum allowed by the tracking system.