The second phase of China's largest renewable energy power base in the country's Gobi Desert and other arid regions kicked off construction on Tuesday in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, said its operator China Energy Investment Corp, or China Energy.

Located at Tengger Desert in Northwest China, the second phase of the project, with a total installed capacity of 2 gigawatts, is expected to provide approximately 3.96 billion kilowatt hours of clean electricity annually, saving more than 1.2 million metric tons of standard coal and reducing annual carbon dioxide emissions by more than 3.29 million metric tons, it said.

The project, also the country's first renewable energy power base in its Gobi Desert and other arid regions, primarily focuses on large-scale wind and solar power development, with a total installed capacity of 17 million kilowatts.

The first phase, with an installed capacity of 1 million kilowatts, was connected to the grid and started generating power in July and has generated more than 1 billion kilowatt hours by the end of September, said the company.