Over Easy Solar Installs 100 kW PV on Queens Green Roof
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- Over Easy Solar installed a 100 kW vertical PV array using its xM3 VPV Unit, a prefabricated bifacial system for flat rooftops, on a building in the Willets Point industrial neighborhood, Queens.
- Sempergreen USA supplied pre‑grown vegetation mats for the green roof and highlighted the system’s wind‑uplift resistance and super‑light weight (2.4 lb/sqft) that eliminates the need for ballast or roof penetration.
- Dick Bernauer, VP Sales of Sempergreen USA, said the design’s low weight makes it suitable for generic flat roofs with low load‑bearing capacity.
- Trygve Mongstad, Founder and CEO of Over Easy Solar, explained that the vertical configuration allows rain and sunlight to reach the vegetation, preserving stormwater retention and plant health compared with traditional ballasted systems.
- NYC Department of Environmental Protection priorities for green roof performance prompted the switch from a conventional tilted PV layout to the vertical design.
Why it matters: Building owners in dense urban districts gain a feasible PV solution that avoids heavy ballast, preserving roof structural limits while maintaining green‑roof stormwater benefits; city regulators meet environmental mandates without sacrificing renewable‑energy capacity, and manufacturers showcase a lightweight, bifacial technology that can be deployed on low‑load rooftops.
