Photovoltaic pergolas: Gibus Energy Pergola and KE Sunlight

A photovoltaic pergola is an aluminium pergola whose roof, besides giving shade and shelter, generates electricity: the photovoltaic cells are built into the adjustable louvres of a bioclimatic pergola or into the laminated glass of the roof. Michelessi, stone masons in Aprilia since 1976, sell and install in Lazio the pergolas of the Italian manufacturers Gibus, KE Outdoor Design and Pratic, and design them together with the stone outdoor kitchen, the paving and the pool.

Three things are often confused online:

• Bioclimatic photovoltaic pergola: the cells sit in the roof louvres, which still rotate. This is the Gibus Energy Pergola.
• Photovoltaic glass roof: the laminated glass of the roof contains the cells. This is the Sunlight winter garden by KE Outdoor Design, in its photovoltaic version.
• Solar-cell motor: a small panel powers only the motor of an awning or zip screen. It does not feed the house.

This page sets out what the manufacturers declare, who does what between pergola, panels and electrical system, how to think about a photovoltaic pergola against a system on the roof of the house, the essential rules for condominiums and permits, and how the pergola fits into the design of the whole outdoor space. For how a louvred roof works, read bioclimatic pergola: what it is and how it works; for the difference from a pergotenda, canopy, gazebo and veranda, see the guide bioclimatic pergola or pergotenda: differences, canopy, veranda; the full range of the department is on bioclimatic pergolas, awnings and enclosures.

Energy Pergola is the Gibus bioclimatic pergola "with integrated photovoltaic panels": the modules are set into the adjustable louvres of the roof, so the same structure gives shade, keeps the rain off and generates electricity. Gibus, a company from the province of Padua, declares that Energy Pergola integrates with the photovoltaic system of the house, whether net-metering, with storage or hybrid.

What the manufacturer declares for Energy Pergola and for its family of bioclimatic pergolas:

• adjustable louvres that, when closed, keep the rain off; the water drains through integrated downpipes;
• an aluminium structure powder-coated in Qualicoat-certified plants and Seaside pre-treated, in the colours of the Gibus range;
• patents declared for the model: Quick Assembly, Twist Motion, Side Seal, Inner Guide and Safe Blade, which stops and reverses the louvres if they meet an obstacle;
• side enclosures with Mag Lock magnetic-seal zip screens or sliding glass walls, LED lighting, sun, rain and wind sensors, remote control and the Gibus Connect app;
• free-standing configurations (4 or 6 posts) and wall-mounted ones (2, 3 or 4 posts), also in several modules.

One point to make clear before any quotation: the electrical system is a separate job. Connecting the modules, the inverter, any battery storage and the grid connection are the work of a licensed electrician, with the relevant paperwork; exactly what the manufacturer's supply includes, we read in the model's data sheet and write in the quotation. We design and install the pergola and plan the cable routes in the drawing, in agreement with the licensed electrician who builds the system and who can be your own. Gibus also declares that Energy Pergola can qualify for the Italian Bonus Casa under the rules for photovoltaics: requirements, rates and documents are in our guide to tax deductions for awnings and pergolas, to be checked with your accountant. The other models of the brand are on Gibus pergolas in Aprilia, Rome and Latina.

Sunlight is the winter garden by KE Outdoor Design (Glassroom is the name of the KE family), a company from Noventa di Piave, in the province of Venice: an aluminium structure with a 10 mm laminated glass roof, wall-mounted or free-standing, with aluminium cross-beams in two finishes, clear or matt white. Since 2024 a photovoltaic version has existed, with photovoltaic laminated glass in the roof: the output depends on the configuration, and for the 6 × 4.5 metre one KE declares 1.4 kW. This is an output declared by the manufacturer, not a yield: how much energy actually reaches the house depends on the exposure and shadows of your site, and we do not estimate it. Sunlight is not a louvred pergola: it is a fixed glass roof, and that also changes the permit picture, as we explain below.

Data declared by KE for Sunlight: maximum width 6 metres free-standing and 12 metres wall-mounted, maximum projection 4.5 metres; optional enclosures with three-track Line Glass sliding glass walls, Vertika Sunlight vertical screens and the Roof Tens roll-up shade above or below the roof; perimeter gutters and downpipes in the columns; dimmable LED strips in the cross-beams; CE marking to the EN 1090 technical standard. Here too the electrical part is for a licensed electrician. In the KE data sheets we consulted (October 2026), photovoltaics appear as an option on Sunlight; the Kedry Prime, Kedry Skylife, Kedry Neos and Kedry Plus louvred bioclimatic pergolas are described on KE Outdoor Design pergolas in Aprilia, Rome and Latina.

Many awnings and screens have a motor powered by a small solar cell: it moves the fabric without running a power cable, it does not feed the house. It is a practical choice on terraces and balconies where routing cables is difficult. In the catalogues of the three manufacturers:

• Pratic (Fagagna, Udine, since 1960): the T-Zone and T-Box Zip vertical zip screens can be ordered with a solar-cell motor;
• Gibus: the Click Zip zip screens offer a solar panel for self-powered operation; the Nivo tension awning has a motorised valance powered by a solar panel;
• KE Outdoor Design: photovoltaics are an option on the Sunlight roof, as described above.

Zip screens and glass walls are described on pergola enclosures: sliding glass walls and zip screens; awnings on folding-arm, drop and cassette awnings; the Pratic models on Pratic pergolas in Aprilia, Rome and Latina.

There is no answer that suits every house, and it is not for us to size the system: the licensed electrician does that. The questions to ask, during the survey and with him or her, are these:

1. Do you need the pergola anyway? If you want shade and shelter over the kitchen area or the terrace and the pergola is already in the design, a version with built-in modules gives you a single element that does several jobs. If you do not need the pergola, photovoltaics are not what justifies it.
2. Is the roof of the house free? If it is in shade, restricted or shared with other units, the roof of the pergola may be an extra surface to assess during the survey, together with the exposure and the shadows of trees and buildings.
3. Which function comes first? The louvres are there above all to manage light, shade and rain: how far their angle affects production we ask the manufacturer and put in writing; we do not promise it. With the fixed glass roof of Sunlight the logic is different: it covers and generates, but it neither tilts nor opens.
4. Which system do you already have? If the house already has a photovoltaic system, the electrician decides whether the modules of the pergola can connect to its inverter or something else is needed.

We make no estimates of savings or of payback time: they depend on consumption, exposure and the type of system, and cannot be read from a web page.

A photovoltaic pergola is a three-handed job, and it is worth knowing before you order. The manufacturer supplies the structure and the modules; Michelessi survey, design and install, with a technical office that includes an in-house architect; a licensed electrician builds the system. This avoids erecting a pergola before anyone has decided where the cables run and where the inverter goes.

Before ordering it is best to have five things in writing, which we define together with the licensed electrician:

• which photovoltaic system the house already has, with which inverter, and whether the modules of the pergola can connect to it;
• where the cables run from the pergola to the consumer unit (inside the posts, in conduits or under the floor: to be decided before the stone is laid);
• where the inverter goes, in a space of your own that can be reached;
• who files the connection paperwork and who issues the declaration of conformity;
• what the manufacturer's supply includes and what warranty it offers, which we state in the quotation.

The full process, from survey to installation, is described on bespoke pergolas: survey, 3D design and installation; for the care of louvres, motors and sensors over time, see the guide bioclimatic pergola maintenance: wind, snow and winter.

On a privately owned terrace it is enough to give the building administrator prior notice; if the pergola rests on a shared roof terrace or courtyard, or is fixed to the façade, the owners' meeting must approve it, and the building rules may add limits of their own. Photovoltaics add two points of attention: the cables running down to the electricity metre of your unit must not cross common parts without agreement, and the inverter must sit in a space you own. Distances from neighbours' windows and views are checked during the survey. Building rules, the owners' meeting and case law are gathered in our guide pergola on a condominium terrace.

It depends on the type of roof, and not in an absolute way. An Energy Pergola with adjustable louvres, attached to the house and without permanent enclosures, is the case closest to the movable sun-protection works that letter b-ter of art. 6 of Presidential Decree 380/2001 (the Salva Casa decree) exempts from a building title; a fixed glass roof such as Sunlight has no movable elements on the roof, and the municipality may treat it as a canopy or a veranda and ask for the corresponding building title. The municipal regulations, landscape restrictions and seismic rules remain in force, and if the pergola is permanently closed on all sides, the municipal technical office should be consulted. The electrical system follows its own rules, with the licensed electrician's paperwork. We tell you at the design stage, before ordering.

The conditions of the law and the case law are in the guide permits for pergolas in Italy; the difference between pergola, canopy and veranda is in bioclimatic pergola or pergotenda: differences, canopy, veranda.

We do not publish prices, because every photovoltaic pergola is a project. The quotation is made of items you can compare on the same drawing:

1. structure: module size, free-standing or wall-mounted, colour from the range;
2. photovoltaic modules: how many louvres or how much glass surface with cells, according to the exposure and the shadows surveyed;
3. electrical system: inverter, any storage, consumer unit, cables, connection and paperwork, quoted by the licensed electrician;
4. installation and fixings: terrace or garden, load capacity of the slab, water drainage;
5. accessories and enclosures: LED, sensors, zip screens, glass walls, heaters;
6. design and support: the survey is free; the manufacturer's warranty is stated in the quotation.

To read and compare quotations see how much a bioclimatic pergola costs: what drives the price; for deductions, the tax guide mentioned above.

A photovoltaic pergola makes even more sense of what we have always done: designing the outdoor space as a whole. Under the louvres that generate electricity we place the outdoor kitchen with a granite, quartzite, sintered stone or marble worktop, the refractory-stone barbecue and oven, the stone paving and, where there is one, the pool. The energy produced by the roof flows into the photovoltaic system of the house, which the licensed electrician designs; cable and water routes are decided in the same drawing, before the stone is cut.

This is the particular feature of our department: we are stone masons who install pergolas, so the kitchen worktop, the pergola levels, the paving falls and the downpipe drains come from the same technical office and are installed by the same team. The kitchen remains outdoor furniture; if the pergola were to be closed on all sides, we first ask for the opinion of the municipal technical office. Read more on outdoor kitchen under a pergola and on stone outdoor kitchens; barbecues and ovens on refractory-stone barbecues and ovens.

Our showroom is in Aprilia, on the Via Pontina, between Rome and Latina. We install in Rome and its province, in Latina, along the coast from Anzio and Nettuno to Terracina and Gaeta, in the Castelli Romani and in the Frosinone area. On the coast the salt-resistant coating and the wind-resistance class declared by the manufacturer matter, and we state them model by model in the quotation; the comparison of the three brands is in the guide Gibus vs KE vs Pratic: how to choose a bioclimatic pergola. Local pages: pergolas in Rome and its province, pergolas in Latina, pergolas in Aprilia, Pomezia and Ardea, pergolas in Anzio and Nettuno, pergolas in the Castelli Romani, pergolas in Frosinone and its province, pergolas on the Lazio coast.

The survey and the quotation are free throughout Lazio: fill in the quotation form or write or call us. Michelessi SRL, Via Pontina km 45.350, Aprilia (Latina); phone and WhatsApp +39 06 9275383.

1. Survey and measurements
   Our technical office measures the space, records the exposure and the shadows from trees and buildings, the available fixings, the water drainage and the position of the consumer unit. The survey is free throughout Lazio.
2. 3D design
   We draw the pergola together with the stone outdoor kitchen, the paving and the pool, with the cable routes inside the posts and the downpipe drains.
3. Checks before ordering
   We check municipal regulations, landscape restrictions, condominium rules and distances from neighbours, and tell you before ordering. The licensed electrician defines inverter, storage and connection paperwork.
4. Order to the manufacturer
   The manufacturer supplies the pergola with the integrated photovoltaic modules, the motors, sensors, lights and the chosen enclosures, in the colour from the range.
5. Pergola installation
   The Michelessi installation team fixes the structure, levels it, connects the water drains, fits the enclosures and tests the movement of the louvres.
6. Electrical system and handover
   The licensed electrician connects the modules to the inverter, makes the grid connection and issues the declaration of conformity; we hand over the pergola with the user manual, and the manufacturer's warranty is stated in the quotation.

• Pergolas: the main page
• Tax deductions for awnings and pergolas in Italy 2026: the rules
• Pergola Enclosures: Sliding Glass Walls and Zip Screens
• Outdoor kitchen under a pergola: stone and shade, one design
• Gibus vs KE vs Pratic: how to choose a bioclimatic pergola
• Bioclimatic pergola maintenance: wind, snow and winter
• Bioclimatic pergola: what it is, how it works, how to choose
• Bioclimatic pergola or pergotenda: differences, canopy, veranda
• Pergola on a condominium terrace in Italy: rules and neighbours
• Wall-mounted or free-standing pergola: how to choose and install
• Pergolas in Anzio and Nettuno: Bioclimatic Pergolas & Awnings
• Bioclimatic pergolas Aprilia, Pomezia, Ardea: sales and fitting
• Pergolas in the Castelli Romani: Bioclimatic, Awnings, Screens
• Bioclimatic pergolas in Frosinone: snow loads and winter use
• Gibus Pergolas in Lazio: Models, Awnings and Installation
• KE Outdoor Design pergolas in Lazio: Kedry, Isola, Gennius Vega
• Bioclimatic Pergolas and Awnings in Latina and Cisterna
• Bioclimatic Pergolas on the Lazio Coast: Terracina to Gaeta
• Bioclimatic Pergolas for Restaurants, Hotels and Beach Clubs
• Pratic Pergolas in Lazio: Opera, Vision, Brera and Awnings
• Bioclimatic Pergolas in Rome: Installation and Stone Kitchens
• Bespoke pergolas: survey, 3D design and installation, Lazio
• Retractable fabric pergolas (pergotende) in Lazio, Italy
• Pergola Permits in Italy 2026: Edilizia Libera and Its Limits
• How much does a bioclimatic pergola cost: what drives the price
• Folding-arm, drop and cassette awnings in Aprilia and Lazio