CHENGDU, June 11 (Xinhua) -- A center for promoting the application of green technology was set up Tuesday in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, local authorities said.

The move came as China saw a surging number of companies involved in energy internet, a sector that is expected to bring more efficient and cleaner energy production.

The Energy Internet Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (EIIEC) will offer services such as incubation, technology transfer and trade and entrepreneurship training for startups in the field of energy internet.

The center is co-established by California-based New Energy Nexus, Energy Internet Research Institute (EIRI) of Tsinghua University and a local talent and entrepreneurship center.

"We will work in clean energy, electric vehicles, energy digitization, energy storage and hydrogen utilization, and build a bridge between the technology and the market," said Gao Wensheng, deputy head of the EIRI (Sichuan).

The number of Chinese companies involved in energy internet surged from about 3,700 in 2014 to over 24,600 in 2018. The number of relevant research institutes also rose from 1,378 in 2014 to 3,118 in 2018, according to the EIRI.