Power utility PPC’s new, state-of-the-art Ptolemaida V power station has entered the final stage of its pre-launch tests. The facility is now injecting electricity into the grid, gradually boosting its input since early December without technical issues.

The new PPC facility was injecting electricity amounts of approximately 300 MW, nearly half its 660-MW capacity, by mid-December, before increasing its grid input to 450 MW last week, and has begun offering levels of as much as 616 MW since December 18.

As is standard practice, internationally, such new facilities undergo three phases of trial tests, the first undertaken by the project’s developer, in this case GEK TERNA.

Ptolemaida V, a project budgeted at over 1.4 billion euros, is expected to be ready for a full-scale launch by the end of February. It will initially operate as a low-emitting lignite-fired power station before eventually converting to natural gas.