With the nation's "go-greener" determination, China has set up its first pilot zone for an energy revolution in northern Shanxi Province. With abundant coal resources, Shanxi once had the country's largest coal production quantity. But it has shifted its focus from a dominant coal economy to developing non-coal industries.  

So what are coal companies doing after putting coal aside? 

A company located in the city of Jinzhong, Jinergy is a photovoltaic module manufacturer. The HJT module that they have developed is one of the world's most advanced solar panels. 

Yang Liyou, general manager of Jinergy, found that bifacial cells work the best in transforming solar energy. Thanks to him, Jinergy panels have the highest efficiency on the market today.

Jinergy's parent company, Jinneng Group, is a traditional coal company, that more recently turned toward clean energy. 

"We're undergoing a powerful energy transition or revolution that is taking place in the whole energy industry. Rather than avoiding challenges, we have to embrace and accept them," said Yang.  

Just five years into its existence, Jinergy has made many technological breakthroughs and has become a world-leading solar module supplier. 

The Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), a noted research organization, has listed Jinergy among the world's first-tier suppliers, with over 40 percent of its products exported to more than 10 countries, making it the second largest supplier on the Indian market. 

Yang says their parent group has offered them many advantages. "One of them (advantages) is capital availability. Also, Jinneng is very much used to owning the assets downstream. We ourselves are a big clean energy developer, in developing wind and solar assets," he added.  

Jinneng Group is one of the many coal groups in Shanxi that have been going green. Shanxi's total installed power generation capacity of new energy is up to 20 million kilowatts, making the province a national leader. 

The reform of its energy industry has always been a priority for Shanxi. As it has now become a national pilot zone for the energy revolution, experts say that the new policy differs from past ones.

"Past policies often focused on reforms in each different field, respectively, like in the coal or electricity industry. Now the set-up of the pilot zone means reforms will be carried out across all categories in all energy industries, " said Wei Hulin, dean of the Business Administration Institute of Shanxi University of Finance and Economics.

"If Shanxi's pilot reforms turn out to be successful, other resource-based provinces can learn from it. Shanxi's success will provide valuable experience to China's energy revolution," added Wei.

Top provincial officials of Shanxi say they have already started to make an action plan of multiple reforms, as the province has become a pilot zone of advancing energy innovation. They will build up an institutional framework for the pilot zone as soon as possible and continue to focus on green development and ecological restoration.