A worker checks product quality at the R&D and manufacturing base in Shuangliu, in the southwestern province of Sichuan. [PHOTO BY HUANG YIMING/CHINA DAILY]

Hanergy released its innovative Hanergy Hantile last July.

Nine months later, the company launched the second generation of its flagship Hantile product in Beijing on April 15.

Hantiles - which have turned the traditional concept of tiles on their head - combine the functions of supplying solar energy and providing roofs for buildings.

They transform each building into a zero-energy consumption power plant, producing green energy. Hantiles can not only provide clients with practical power, they also have cultural and social value.

For a house installed with 100 square meters of Hantiles, the power produced is equivalent to that made by 123 metric tons of coal over 30 years.

By not burning coal, the house helps avoid emissions totalling 322 tons of carbon dioxide, 1,045 kilograms of sulfur dioxide and 910 kg of nitrogen oxide, which is also equivalent to planting 340 trees.