On Wednesday, China broke ground on a massive renewable energy project worth more than $11 billion, which it is building in the nation’s seventh-largest desert in a province in inner Mongolia. Experts say the project is part of a massive new clean energy agenda being pursued by the world’s second largest economy.

According to the contractor, the plant will be the world’s largest renewable electricity generation facility of its kind in a desert area, featuring both solar and wind power, with an overall installed capacity of 16 million kW. In addition to the solar and wind, there will be an upgraded coal power plant, to produce 40 billion kWh of electricity for Beijing, as well as the provinces of Tianjin and Hebei, each year.

The Kubuqi Desert project is being constructed by the China Three Gorges corporation and Inner Mongolia Energy Group. The desert already houses the nation’s largest solar power plant, which features 196,000 panels which have produced 2.3 billion kWh, an amount equivalent to 760,000 tons of standard coal.

So far there has been no timeframe for the construction process released. The company has only said the first phase of the project will consist of one gigawatt of solar capacity with energy storage.

China already has substantial wind and solar power generation capabilities. The clean energy base is one part of an ambitious program by the government to augment the nation’s clean energy infrastructure with 450 gigawatts of renewable power based in the nation’s spacious desert areas.

Beijing has planned to get 33% of its electrical energy from renewable sources by 2025 as part of its plan to reduce the nation’s carbon emissions. Already the nation has reached 29.4% clean energy production last year, bringing it shockingly close to that target.