Ameren adds mobile command trailers to aid coordination after major storms

Faced with increasingly severe climate-induced weather concerns in recent years, Ameren recently announced a tool to help in the aftermath: two new mobile command center trailers.

Meant to serve as single points of contact for crews working to restore power after major storms, the trailers come equipped with climate controls, high-speed internet access, computer workstations, generators, and technology to connect them with real-time drone footage. These will supplement existing disaster equipment, such as the storm material trailers stocked with items for power restoration and mobile substations crews can use to take over operations of damaged neighborhood substations.

“The Mobile Command Center trailers will give the company a single point of contact for crews, while also being available for use during mutual assistance response efforts outside Ameren’s service areas,” Ryan Arnold, vice president of energy delivery at Ameren Missouri, said. “We will be able to deploy the command centers quickly and can have them set up and fully operational in minutes. It’s going to make communications and coordination much more efficient. Most importantly, it will help us improve restoration times for our customers after a storm.”

Being mobile, these command centers could also be moved around the country if requested by the Midwest Mutual Assistance Group, to assist other states and utilities in the wake of major storms or other disasters.