A rooftop in Queens, New York, now hosts a living green roof and solar panels on the same surface, thanks to a new vertical design.

Norwegian company Over Easy Solar installed its first US rooftop system in the Willets Point industrial area. The 100-kilowatt array stands upright like books over the vegetation instead of lying flat.

The vertical bifacial panels need no ballast and do not pierce the roof membrane. At 2.4 pounds per square foot, the system is light enough for roofs with limited load capacity. Sunlight and rain still reach the plants below, keeping stormwater retention and plant health intact.

Sempergreen USA, North America’s largest supplier of green-roof vegetation mats, handled the installation. The project was originally planned with tilted panels but switched to vertical to meet New York City’s green-roof performance priorities.

The system is expected to generate about 120,000 kilowatt-hours a year. Vertical bifacial panels also shift output toward morning and afternoon, matching electricity demand better than a sharp midday spike.