China's Hanergy introduces solar roof tile

China’s Hanergy Thin Film Power Group Ltd (HKG:0566), or Hanergy TFP, on Saturday expanded its distributed solar offerings by launching its own solar roof tile for the domestic market.

To be known as the Hantile, the new product encapsulates a thin, light and flexible copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) thin-film solar chip into float glass that maximises the conversion rate and, at the same time, fulfills architectural aesthetic demands, the company said in a statement.

The current average conversion rate of the chips used by the Hantile amounts to 16.5% at the manufacturing level and is seen to increase to 17.5% by the end of the year. Such consistent growth is expected in the future, the company added.

Hanergy claims that the Hantile performs better than traditional tiles when it comes to thermal insulation, heat preservation, fire prevention, infiltration prevention and hail prevention. The product comes in three models: curved, flat and upturned C styles.

During the launch event in Beijing, an all-in-one construction team was able to build a 50-sq-m (538.2 sq ft) rooftop using 168 pieces of the new solar tiles for about 40 minutes, according to the press release. That installation has a capacity of 5 kW.

The market price of the Hantile is set at CNY 1,390 (USD 206.5/EUR 176) per sq m. The product is mainly suitable for newly-built commercial villas, urban and rural public buildings and self-built houses in rural areas. It has already received the China Compulsory Certification and the China Quality Certification, and passed installation testing.

Based on the current price of the Hantile, Hanergy estimates the potential domestic market to be CNY 1.4 trillion annually, and the global market to be at least two times as big as the Chinese market.

(CNY 1 = USD 0.149/EUR 0.127)

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