Ameren Illinois building new substation, upgrading reliability in East St. Louis area

Ameren Illinois announced plans last week to replace an existing substation, as well as upgrade power lines and power poles in the area of East St. Louis, as part of a $14.5 million effort to improve energy reliability in the region.

The existing Ridge Substation at 20th Street and Martin Luther King Drive will be replaced and expanded onto another 2.7 acres of adjacent land purchased by Ameren. All line and pole updates will allow for alternate pathways to other substations for re-routing and delivery guarantees in the event of outages. Around 30,000 customers should benefit from the updates.

“This project is another key step in our long-range plans to construct a more robust electric grid to meet our customers growing needs,” Jason Klein, Electric Operations Director for Ameren Illinois, said. “We’re excited to bring these enhancements to our customers in East St. Louis and surrounding communities.”

The project represents the third major investment Ameren Illinois has made in the East St. Louis area over the past four years. It is also part of a multi-year effort to modernize Ameren Illinois’ energy delivery system — an effort that has so far yielded an average of 17 percent greatest reliability and reduction of outages by 19 percent.