Analysis of microclimate and electrical performance of solar green roofs through a Large-Scale experimental study in a tropical microgrid

Solar Green Roofs (SGRs) have emerged as a promising solution to improve photovoltaic (PV) system performance while addressing urban heat island effects. However, limited large-scale experimental analyses in tropical climates hinder a comprehensive understanding of their potential. To address this issue, in this paper, we present a large- scale experimental study on the integration of SGR systems into a tropical microgrid, focusing on the cooling effects of green roofs and their impact on PV efficiency. First, a large-scale experimental SGR system is designed and constructed in Ubin Singapore and integrated into the Ubin Microgrid. Then, a robust data collection and analysis framework was developed to gather and evaluate the massive data with comparison and correlation analysis. Based on the proposed framework, the impact of SGR to the microclimate and PV performance is analyzed across different plant species, PV heights and weather conditions. The findings provide actionable insights into optimizing SGR configurations for enhanced energy yield and thermal regulation in tropical climates. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first large-scale testbed of its kind in tropical weather.