Ameren Illinois upgrading substations in East St. Louis-area to strengthen energy delivery network
Ameren Illinois continues to make energy infrastructure upgrades to improve the reliability and performance of its energy delivery systems for residential and business customers throughout southern Illinois. The company is investing $4.5 million in in East St. Louis-area and the improvements will be placed into service by the end of 2015.
The company also announced today it plans to spend an additional $3.4 million in upgrades in East St. Louis, beginning in 2016.
“We're excited to implement another step of our long-range plan to improve our electric delivery system in East St. Louis,” said Eric Kozak, Director of Division VI Operations for Ameren Illinois. “The capacity we are adding to our substations today will help ensure that we can meet the evolving demands of our business and residential customers in the future.”
These projects are in progress for 2015:
- Ridge substation (located near the intersection of Ridge Avenue and 20th Street) – Ameren Illinois is installing a 112 mega-volt (MVA) transformer inside the Ridge substation. The new transformer replaces an older 100-MVA unit.
Investment: $2.5 million.
- Edgemont substation (located near the intersection of State Street and Pershing Boulevard) – the company is replacing two 4-MVA transformers with one 14-MVA transformer adding capacity to meet future demand in the area. The substation design also provides room for an additional 14-MVA unit to accommodate future growth in the City. Two 34-kV sub-transmission lines will serve the substation; one line will serve as a backup to improve service reliability for customers.
Investment: $2 million.
Upgrades for 2016:
- New Dunham substation – Ameren Illinois will relocate its 6.25-MVA Alta substation at the intersection of Missouri Avenue and 29th Street to its new location at the intersection of Cleveland and 27th Street. The new substation will be renamed to honor Katherine Dunham. The new substation will be 14-MVA – doubling the capacity of the old substation. The substation design also provides room for an additional 14-MVA unit to accommodate future growth in the City. Two 34-kV sub-transmission lines will serve the substation; one line will serve as a backup to improve service reliability for customers. There will be four 4-kV feeders exiting the substation, which will extend south along the west side of 27th Street and the east side of 29th Street. The feeders will extend west on Broadway Avenue and in the alley north of Missouri Avenue and tie into existing feeders to improve reliability. Project should be in-service by the end of 2016.
Investment: $3.4 million.
Kozak noted that Ameren Illinois field crews and contractors will log more than 4,000 work hours on the projects.
“Since the grid modernization program began in 2012, projects such as the installation of storm-resistant utility poles, outage detection technology, and stronger power lines have resulted in 238,000 fewer electricity service interruptions on average," said Richard J. Mark, President of Ameren Illinois. "Fewer outages will mean more savings for customers in East St. Louis."
About Ameren Illinois
Ameren Illinois delivers energy to 1.2 million electric and 816,000 natural gas customers in downstate Illinois, and our mission is to power the quality of life. Our service territory covers more than 1,200 communities and 43,700 square miles. For more information, visit AmerenIllinois.com. Follow us on Twitter @AmerenIllinois and Facebook.
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