XI’AN, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- A China-Europe freight train transporting photovoltaic components to Uzbekistan was inaugurated on Thursday in Xi’an, capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province.

The train is carrying 50 containers of 20-megawatt photovoltaic components -- the first batch of products for a 1-gigawatt photovoltaic project in Uzbekistan. The project is the first large-scale new energy project implemented by a Chinese enterprise in Central Asia since the China-Central Asia Summit in May.

For the project, a total of 60 trains carrying approximately 3,000 containers are expected to depart for Uzbekistan via the China-Europe freight train service.

After the project is implemented, it will provide 2.4 billion kilowatt-hours of clean energy to the local area annually, reducing carbon emissions by 2.4 million tonnes, according to China Energy Engineering Corporation Limited, the project’s constructor.