Partner: NIOO-KNAW

The roof garden on the NIOO-KNAW building has served as a permanent outdoor research location since the start of Plant-e in 2009. The NIOO-KNAW was our first research partner, and still is. All the research they have made possible for Plant-e is very valuable.

The system on the roof experiences every development step of the Plant-e technology and functions as a plant flow information point for employees and visitors to the roof garden.

In 2011, the first version of the green electricity roof was installed in the form of square meter modules. After years of data collection, this system was replaced in 2019 by the improved hose system. The generated electricity is still used to power the information point. When power is supplied to the information board, data is directly generated for the further development of the hose system.

The ditch in front of the NIOO-KNAW building functioned as 'living' storage for the relocated research system from Berkel and Rodenrijs. This gave Plant-e the opportunity to continue with the data acquisition for this system.

The extension of the measurement period has given us many positive insights into the sustainability of the system. The next upgrade was installed in the roof garden in the early spring of 2021. With this upgrade we challenge the system even further. We are conducting research into the sustainability of the system in an environment with strong roots top layer.