China will set up special funds to support the creation of green energy-oriented counties in an effort to promote the use of renewable energy in the country's rural areas, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Thursday.

The move is believed to be able to help advance clean energy development and modernization in the country's rural areas.

According to a set of regulations released jointly by the MOF, the National Energy Administration and the Ministry of Agriculture, the Government will give subsidies to counties that make significant efforts to develop green energy sources.

The subsidizing plan will support endeavors such as centralizing supplies of methane gas and the utilization of biomass energy. To win over the subsidies, each project should also meet four other pre-set objectives, including an increase in the production capacity of green energy equivalent to 50,000 tons of standard coal and inclusion of at least 20,000 families as beneficiaries, plus more than 80 percent of comprehensive use rate for straw resources.

"Green energy-oriented counties" refer to rural counties that will focus on developing green energy.

"Green energy" refers to energy generated in environmentally ways or derived from environmentally sources, such as biomass energy, solar power, wind energy, geothermal energy and hydropower.

(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2011)