France’s EnerGaïa, Italy’s Key Energy to be held in fall, Australia’s All-Energy 2020 canceled
France’s EnerGaïa Forum will be held Dec. 9-10 in Montpellier, while Italy’s Key Energy event will be held in Rimini from Nov. 3-6. Australia’s top PV industry event will not take place in 2020.
Image: Tilby-Vattard/EnerGaïa
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Two main European solar events will take place in the fall due to the Covid-19 crisis: France’s EnerGaïa Forum in Montpellier and Italy’s Key Energy event in Rimini.
The next edition of the EnerGaïa Forum will be held Dec. 9 to Dec. 10, 2020, at the Parc des Expositions in Montpellier. The event is expected to host more than 8,500 professionals and 250 exhibitors, in compliance with health measures guaranteeing the safety of all, the organizers said.
In December 2019, 215 professionals came to present their innovations at the event, and more than 7,500 visitors attended. “A mixture of optimism and realism marked the event in 2019”, said the organizers. “The exhibiting companies indeed underline a very qualitative business climate. The feelings of the exhibitors give hope that this impetus will be a solid and inspiring basis for responding to the current climate emergency. ”
The Italian Exhibition Group (IEG) has announced that the Key Energy event, which also includes a sub-section for PV, will take place in Rimini, Italy, from Nov. 3 to Nov. 6.
“In addition to the safety measures taken inside the Expo Centre, seating areas will also be set up to access all the programmed events in live streaming and meetings with companies will be organized in total safety through Ecomondo’s new app, specifically designed to facilitate supply and demand,” the organizers said.
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Last year’s edition saw the presence of inverter makers, with Growatt, Sungrow, Ingeteam, Fimer, Huawei, SolarEdge, Zucchetti and Fronius all demonstrating residential and commercial products. Module manufacturers were more difficult to find. The sole Chinese big beast was JA Solar, which was surrounded by small Italian residential PV manufacturers such as Trienergia and Futura Sun, as well as a module maker from neighboring Albania, Soltech Energy.
All-Energy Australia
All-Energy Australia will not take place in 2020. The cancellation of the Melbourne event was announced this week, in a move the organizers have described as being the “best option,” despite previous optimism that the event would go ahead. The event was scheduled to take place on Oct. 21 and Oct. 22 at the Melbourne Exhibition Center.

Solar industry events around the world have had to face the difficult decision as to whether to reschedule, cancel or go ahead with trade shows and conferences in 2020. While the vast SNEC event in Shanghai will open this week, after been postponed in April date, others canceled all in-person events completely, like Intersolar Europe. There are plans for the major U.S. solar show, Solar Power International, to take place in an outdoor setting in Las Vegas – although some industry insiders believe that even that may prove impossible.
Reed Exhibitions and the Clean Energy Council, which are the organizers of All-Energy Australia, noted that the “recent escalation” in Covid-19 cases in Australia had dashed earlier hopes that the event could take place.
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Emiliano joined pv magazine in March 2017. He has been reporting on solar and renewable energy since 2009.
Jonathan is the Founding Editor of pv magazine Australia. Jonathan joined pv magazine in 2011 and became the Editor in Chief in 2014.
Solar Panels Shaped Like Roofs
It seems that solar panels constantly keep re-inventing themselves. Whether it’s elevating conversion efficiencies or changing the very nature of how they convert sunlight to electricity, solar panels are continually being refined, enhanced or re-engineered.
A case in point is a new breed of solar panels that defy the classic shape we’ve seen on rooftops everywhere. Throughout their design history, solar panels have always been rectangular. This boxy shape has been convenient for manufacturers. However, many of the world’s roofs are hipped, which gives them a triangular shape. So the question naturally arises, why install a rectangular solar panel onto a triangular roof? After all, doing so wastes a considerable amount of rooftop real estate. Wouldn’t it be better and more efficient to make solar panels that dovetail nicely with a roof’s architecture, thus providing more usable solar surface area?
Enter the Triangular Solar Panel
Solar innovations needn’t be confined to the technology that drives conversion efficiencies upward. As solar tech makes advancing strides, new physical shapes and designs will be introduced. Once such design breakthrough is the Portable Solar Module invented by Yeh ShuHung and Hu SiQi. Presented during the Red Dot Award’s online exhibition, the triangular shaped solar panels can easily follow the pie shaped hipped architecture of most of roofs built today. They can be connected to form a vast array of shapes and patterns using what the designers refer to as stencils. The stencils act much like a hinge that allows adjoining panels to fold down to 180 degrees. The new triangular shaped solar panels allow homeowners to take full advantage of solar power where it may not have been previously practical due to space restrictions.
Solar technology is forever on the move, changing and adapting to the needs and pressures of today’s consumer and manufacturer. The goal is to bring down costs and boost conversion efficiencies. Helping to enhance a solar panel’s usable rooftop real estate, some manufacturers are combining traditional rectangular solar panels with the new generation of triangular shaped panels. Companies like Trienergia offer both triangular and rectangular solar panels. Their square 200W panels make up most of their solar array, with triangular shaped 100W panels filling in the voids. For enhanced aesthetics, the panels are entirely black. The 200-watt panel measures 1200mm x 1070mm and the triangular panel measures 1070mm x 1070mm. Like most of today’s solar panels, these new panels must be matched to each other within a string. The triangular panels can be tied in with older rectangular panels within a string, but you need to tie them together on a separate string or inverter.
Triangular Panels with Surface Texturing
You may want to look at Sharp’s OnEnergy solar system. It includes a triangular module for residential hip roofs and similar complex rooflines. Sharps OnEnergy system replaces the bulky look of traditional solar panels with a clean appearance that follows many of today’s complex rooflines. This triangular module features an advanced surface texturing process to increase light absorption and improve efficiency. The new pie-shaped module has been designed to partner with their 142-watt module.
Many homes can accommodate regular rectangular solar panel arrays. But there are some homes that have predominantly irregular roof faces. Installing traditional rectangular solar panels on these roofs can be costly and time consuming. The box-shaped panels also limit the ability to gather the maximum amount of sunlight. For these homes, triangular-shaped solar panels are more suitable, since they provide the added flexibility for installation. They also allow more homes to switch to greener, cleaner solar power and ultimately reduce a homeowner’s energy bills.
Can you use triangle solar panels with rectangular solar panels?
Yes, you can use them together. You do not have to choose one or the other. The triangle solar panels are capable of working in tandem with standard rectangular ones without any compatibility issues. They basically work as additional units to give you more power.
Triangular solar panels are available in various sizes, shapes, and formats depending on the needs of your roof’s design. You can use them anywhere where there is a triangular-shaped portion that cannot be covered by standard rectangular panels.

Can you cover your roof using triangle solar panels only?
You can use triangular solar panels alone to cover your entire roof without any gaps left at the edges. However, it wouldn’t be the best option to pursue. Because triangular solar panels are more expensive than standard rectangular ones. So, if you can cover your roof with large rectangle panels then that would be the best option for cost-effectiveness.
Ideally, you should cover large unobstructed portions of your roof with rectangular panels and use triangle panels to cover smaller triangular areas. This way, you will minimize the number of standard panels, installation, and maintenance costs.
How much do triangular solar panels cost?
Triangular solar panels are not standard solar panels and there are not many manufacturers of them. By late 2021 there are still no triangular solar panel products available on Amazon.
What that means finding out triangular solar panel products and compare them for the price, efficiency, etc is difficult.
However, there are still some manufacturers who make triangular solar panels and their products are available on the market.
The Italian company Trienergia produces triangular modules both in black and anodized red colors.
Their product is a monocrystalline photovoltaic module with 21 cels M4 (162,75 x 162,75mm) and is best to combine with their rectangular modules. The company offers a 90% performance warranty for 12 years and an 82% performance warranty for 30 years. The 100 Watt models cost around 150 depending on the marketplace you are buying them from.
Solar Panel Types
As we all know, Solar panels are nothing but an interconnected network of solar cells.
Solar cells or photovoltaic cells are made up of semiconductor material such as Silicon are used to convert the sun’s energy into electricity.
When it comes to solar panels, there are different types that serve different needs.
Primarily solar panels are classified into 3 main types:
Monocrystalline Solar panels
These solar panels are made from a single silicon crystal that has been cut into several wafers.
This silicon crystal has a uniform black color indicating its high purity.
The monocrystalline panels are manufactured from pure silicone, which makes them the most durable and space-efficient.
These solar panels last for about 25 years.
Polycrystalline Solar Panels
These panels contain different silicon crystals instead of one in a single photovoltaic cell.
The wafers are manufactured from two or more pieces of silicon crystal that have been melted together.
Having a lower silicon purity and construction than monocrystalline panels, these wafers are bluish in color.
These solar panels are cost-efficient but do not perform well in low light conditions and in high-temperature environments.
Thin Film Solar Panels
These are made of flexible semiconductor materials like Amorphous silicon (a-Si), Gallium Arsenide(Ga As), etc are used to make these solar panels. And hence, these solar panels are light in weight.
A thin-film solar panel is the slimmest solar panel on the market. Thus, they are often used for projects with low power requirements, like solar vehicles.
In comparison with the above two solar panels, it has the least efficiency.
These solar panels are way cheaper than the other two solar panels as they are made of semiconductor materials and not pure silicon.
The expected lifetime of thin-film solar panels is about 20 years.
Other Latest Solar Panel Technologies
With the advancement in technology, various types of solar panels are available with better efficiencies.
BiFacial Solar Panels
It is a two-sided solar panel. So they can capture sunlight from both sides.
Bi Facial panels absorb direct as well as reflected light. Because of this, these panels perform better in cloudy weather.
This product reportedly has a 30% efficiency, which is 11% more than mono facial panels.
Bifacial solar panels offer many benefits that make them a better choice for installation.
Solar Tiles
Solar Tiles are solar panels designed to look like and function as conventional roofing materials.
These are manufactured by several companies.
Solar tiles became commercially available in 2005.
A primary difference between solar panels and solar tiles is that solar panels need to be installed on an existing roof.
Tesla launched Solar tiles in 2016 and claimed them to be more than three times stronger than standard roofing tiles and are engineered for all-weather protection.

According to Wikipedia, the cost of solar tiles can range from 3.80 per watt up to 9.00 per watt installed depending on the manufacturer, technology used, and system size.
Spinning Solar Panels
These solar panels consist of photovoltaic cells arranged in an angular array to form a conical shape.
The conical shape of the panels allows maximum exposure to sunlight at any angle during any time of the year.
Spinning solar cells are generating 20 times more green electricity compared with traditional Panels.
In keeping with their mission to help people save space, decrease energy costs, and increase efficiency, V3 Solar has announced this technology that promises to do just that.
There are numerous benefits of using spinning solar panels which make them a great deal to purchase. Although, these solar panels are still not in the market. So the exact cost cannot be found anywhere.
If your house has a triangular roof, or if your porch has a triangular roof shape, these triangular solar panels are for you.
Triangular solar panels make it possible to utilize every rooftop, regardless of its shape. Essentially, it represents the ultimate improvement in the design of solar panels.
Features
Some of the most common features of triangular solar panels are:
- It allows you to better utilize the roof space
- The combination of “triangular panels” and “square panels” can improve the visual impact.
- Makes it possible to install solar PV in areas not previously feasible because of space constraints.
- Both mono poly options are available
- The rectangular panels and triangles are easy to place and join together.
Advantages
- The triangular solar panels could be used on the roof of any triangular house or the house having a triangular roof, they would contain the artistic design that would be suited to the top area.
- You can utilize the space of the rooftop if you install triangular solar panels with a rectangular shape.
- This will make covering the roof blade easy and help you deal with the hip roof well. Additionally, they are easy to install and require less labor.
- By installing triangular solar panels on your porch roof, you can use your porch as a solar panel installation site. This will open up the possibility of using the main roof for other purposes.
Disadvantages
- Compared to the traditional square-shaped solar panel, triangular panels are more expensive. Normally, you have to spend up to 1.5 times as much on a solar panel as a traditional one.
- It is likely that triangular panels have fewer solar cells. The manufacturing process of triangular solar panels includes fewer solar cells because of the shape.
- In comparison to rectangular solar panels, triangles aren’t readily available on the market. Triangular panels are made by certain manufacturers, but usually on a custom basis for specific projects.
Wrap Up
In this article, I have covered all the latest technologies of solar panels, also, described in detail the Triangular Solar Panels, their features, benefits, and disadvantages.
Before Triangular solar panels, there also used to be a thing called “dummy” panels, which were used to fill in the excess space left after installing rectangular solar panels.
In the current situation, the price of triangular solar panels is quite high which makes it not so popular in comparison to other better technologies. Hope the cost of solar panels will be reduced over time as the technology gets better.
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