Ameren Illinois begins two-year, $33M construction of transmission substation
In an effort to add resiliency to the Clay County grid, Ameren Illinois began this week the two-year construction of a $33 million Louisville, Ill., transmission substation.
The first step is grading and foundation work across the 16-acre site adjacent to the current Louisville South Substation. Construction on the actual 138 kV Tanner substation facility should begin later this month. Further down the road, new power lines will be added to join the two facilities and bolster service redundancy. All told, these efforts should aid reliability, flexibility, and load capacity in the region.
“Substations do not get a lot of fanfare, but they are critical elements in a reliable, resilient energy grid,” Ron Juarez, director of East Region Electric Operations for Ameren Illinois, said. “When phase one of this project is completed in early December, we will be able to potentially re-route power from other substations in the area to reduce the duration of an outage for our customers. It will also facilitate the efficient transmission of cleaner energy being generated at nearby solar facilities.”
When complete, these efforts will be a part of modernizing Ameren’s delivery system for its 1.2 million electric customers. To date, this effort has also included new technology, new projects, and strengthened transmission equipment, such as poles, wires, and distribution technology.
