BEIJING, March 5 (Reuters) - China plans to build 450 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind power generation capacity on the Gobi and other desert regions, the chief of the state planner said on Saturday, as part of efforts to boost renewable power use to meet climate change goals.

President Xi Jinping has pledged to bring China's total wind and solar capacity to at least 1,200 GW and to cap its carbon emission to a peak by 2030.

"China is going to build the biggest scale of solar and wind power generation capacity on the Gobi and desert in history, at 450 GW," He Lifeng, director of the National Development and Reform Commision (NDRC), said on the sidelines of the National People's Congress. China had installed 306 GW of solar power capacity and 328 GW wind capacity by the end of 2021. The construction of about 100 GW of solar power capacity is already under way in the desert area.