Ameren Missouri has entered into an agreement to acquire, after construction, a 400 MW wind farm in northeast Missouri.
The facility will be built by an affiliate of Terra-Gen LLC in Adair and Schuyler counties. Notably, Ameren Missouri says it will be Missouri’s largest wind project.
The wind farm will consist of 175 U.S.-made turbines that will power an estimated 120,000 homes by 2020. Groundbreaking is expected in summer 2019.
“We are excited to take this transformative step to bring more renewable generation to our customers,” said Michael Moehn, president of Ameren Missouri. “Adding more wind energy will help us achieve our goal to reduce carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050.”
A subsidiary of Ameren Corp., Ameren Missouri has been providing electric and gas service for more than 100 years. It has 1.2 million electric and 130,000 natural gas customers in central and eastern Missouri, including the greater St. Louis area.
“This major wind development would benefit our customers, the communities we serve and the environment,” adds Ajay Arora, vice president of power operations and energy management at Ameren Missouri. “Missouri-based wind generation recently became an affordable option. These planned investments in wind energy would help keep customers’ rates more stable over time. Our state would also benefit from continued investment and economic growth, including hundreds of construction jobs, as well as permanent jobs when the turbines are in service.”
According to Ameren, the wind farm is enabled by the expanded transmission capacity made possible by Ameren Transmission Co. of Illinois’ Mark Twain Transmission Project, approved in January by the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC). The Mark Twain Transmission Project has a targeted in-service date of December 2019.
The transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including timely approval from the PSC and a timely and acceptable Midcontinent Independent System Operator transmission interconnection agreement, notes Ameren.
Today’s announcement is the first major step in implementing Ameren Missouri’s integrated resource plan, a 20-year outlook that supports cleaner energy in the state. Planned investments include approximately $1 billion to build wind generation projects in Missouri and possibly neighboring states, resulting in at least 700 MW of new wind-generated energy by 2020. This wind farm would meet more than half of that planned capacity. Ameren Missouri also expects to add 100 MW of solar energy over the next 10 years, with 50 MW targeted to come online by 2025.
