In Missouri, the subsidiary utility company of Ameren announced last month that it will add an 800 MW simple-cycle gas plant and a 400 MW battery storage plant in Jefferson County due to increasing demand for electricity.
The justification of the Big Hollow Energy Center is that they will manage to support more energy demands and maintain grid resiliency, according to Ameren. The lithium-ion battery will start as the first big storage facility of Ameren, but the utility is preparing to put 1 or more GW of battery storage into service by 2030 and 1.8 GW by 2042.
“This is the next step to deliver on our strategy to invest in energy infrastructure for our customers’ benefit and provide a balanced generation portfolio.”
– Mark Birk, Ameren Missouri President and Chairman.
The gas plant and battery storage “will operate independently,” leveraging energy infrastructure on land the company already owns to reduce construction time and cost, the utility said.
“It is crucial to have a balanced mix of generation technologies and equally important to strategically locate them across the region. This approach maximizes the energy output from these resources.”
– Ajay Arora, senior vice president and chief development officer at Ameren Missouri.
The company noted that the Big Hollow project might go online in 2028, provided the modernization efforts are timely approved by a regulator.
In February, Ameren posted a new change to its preferred resource plan to supply 1.5 GW of anticipated additional energy demand in 2032. In addition to storage, Ameren intends to construct 1.6 GW of gas generation assets by the year 2030 and 6.1 GW by the year 2045 in total.
“Building off the success of bringing in nearly two dozen new economic development projects in 2024, Ameren Missouri has construction agreements with potential large load customers for new energy demand.”
In February, Ameren submitted an updated Smart Energy Plan with the Missouri Public Service Commission as well. In a five-year plan worth 16.2 billion dollars, the company will invest in grid modernization to enhance system reliability and resiliency.
