June 5, 2019
Reenergizing the grid
Around Town
St. Charles County Ambulance District receives 2019 EMS Patient Safety First Award. Pg.3
School Lindenwood Collegiate DECA Team takes honors at international competition. Pg. 7 South Middle celebrates principal’s award. Pg. 7
Flip for Features
A 120-ton crane hoists a section of the new Research Park Substation as a team of Ameren Missouri workers direct a piece into place.
Submitted photo
Ameren Missouri continues its massive infrastructure upgrade in St. Charles County with a new $12.6 million substation By Brett Auten Earlier this year, Ameren Missouri announced its largest energy infrastructure upgrade plan in the company’s 100-year history. The Smart Energy Plan, which includes 2,000 infrastructure projects, is projected to improve reliability for customers and communities throughout Missouri over the next five years. As part of the Smart Energy Plan, the Research Park Substation Project is said to increase energy service reliability for nearly 40 commercial and industrial customers in St. Charles County. The $12.6 million substation will go in-service in late
June. Ameren officials say that residential customers in the zip codes of 63368, 63304 and 63301 will also experience greater reliability in the county. Ross Smith, of St. Charles, Supervisor, Distribution Services for Ameren Missouri, said that as communities grow and economic development increases, substations are built to meet greater energy demands. Residential customers in the area will also experience greater reliability. “The communities in this area - St. Charles County, Dardene Prairie, O’Fallon, Weldon Springs - they have commercial and industrial growth going on,” Smith said. “This substation is going to keep the
existing customers with reliable service and serve the new customers that are moving in.” Ameren, the state’s largest electric provider, is also boring under Highway 64/40 to connect the new Research Park Substation with the existing Weldon Springs Substation. The underground and existing overhead lines will provide two supplies of energy to the substation allowing for added reliability. In April, switchgear was set into place at the new Research Park Substation site. Switchgear is the brain of the substation. They house a suite of smart technologies deSee ‘GRID’ page 2
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