Harbin, capital city of China's northernmost Heilongjiang province, will receive 700 million yuan ($105.03 million) per year from the central government to develop its winter central heating sector over a three-year period.
 
The plan was recently announced when Harbin was selected as a pilot city for national clean energy heating.
 
The designation is a result of Harbin's efforts in recent years to conserve energy and reduce emissions from heating, and find new energy sources to replace coal-fired heating.
 
Coal-fired energy is currently still the main heating source in Harbin, although coal-fired heating enterprises in the city have made efforts to achieve the technical transformation of desulfurization, denitrification and emissions reduction for clean heating.
 
All large-scale coal-fired boilers in the city's main urban area already meet the ultra-low emissions requirements.
 
Meanwhile, small boilers in the urban area under 40 tons and a number of small boilers in surrounding county-level cities and counties are struggling with renovations and high costs, presenting opportunities for the development of new energy heating sources.
 
In the future, Harbin plans to turn urban sewage and waste gas into new energy for heating. With many new energy heating projects popping up in recent years, the city's heating energy structure is expected to improve.
 
It is estimated that if wasted heat resources at power generation facilities in Harbin were reused, they could heat an area of 20 million square meters.
 
The city's sewage waste heat energy alone can meet the heating demands of an area of more than 30 million square meters.
 
New energy heating potential in Harbin is huge and the technology is mature. However, according to industry experts, new energy heating currently meets less than 5 percent of total heating demand, and its application must be accelerated.