A power supply project in Cambodia, involving China's largest single investment in the country, started electricity generation on Tuesday after a 72-hour trial run, its operator China Huadian Corp said on Tuesday.

The 700,000 kilowatt Huadian Sihanoukville plant is the first phase of Huadian's largest coal-fired power project in Cambodia. It will effectively alleviate Cambodia's power supply shortages while promoting local socioeconomic development, it said.

Approved in mid-2018, the project is being developed in two phases. The first phase includes two 350 megawatt supercritical coal-fired power units with a total installed capacity of 700 MW. An 8,000-ton coal berth and a 2,000-ton level berth for heavy pieces has been also built. It is so far the only coal-fired power project with the highest environmental protection standards in Cambodia, said the company.

According to Fang Zheng, chairman of China Huadian Overseas Investment Co Ltd, Huadian has to date built a presence in overseas markets like Cambodia, Indonesia, Russia, Vietnam and Bangladesh with projects covering coal-fired plants, hydropower and solar power.

Combined installed capacity of the overseas projects under operation has exceeded 4.52 million kW with a total gross value of assets of around 32.4 billion yuan ($4.46 billion) so far, he said.

China has continued with overseas energy development in recent years, spanning from hydro, wind, solar to conventional power generation, said Wei Hanyang, a power market analyst at BloombergNEF.

As China is committed to forging renewable energy cooperation with more countries, Chinese companies will likely find opportunities to build more renewable energy projects on the global stage, he said.

As one of the country's major State-owned power companies, Huadian has also invested in and constructed the Lower Stung Russei Chrum Hydropower Plant. With the highest installed capacity then in Cambodia, the project has produced more than 8.4 billion kW of clean power since its first unit was put into operation in September 2013.

The power generated accounts for more than 30 percent of the total annual power generation in Cambodia, and has helped the Southeast Asian nation secure its power supply alongside steady operation of local power distribution grids, it said.