ILLINOIS – Ameren Illinois has started a two-year $33-million substation construction project in Louisville, Clay County.

The new substation is expected to enhance energy service reliability, flexibility and load capacity of the company's electric grid in Clay County and neighboring counties.

Grading and foundation work on the 16-acre site adjacent to the existing Louisville South Substation is underway.  

Workers will begin building the 138 kV Tanner substation facility in mid-May.

The project also includes adding new power lines between the two substations to increase service redundancy.

"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,“ said Ron Juarez, Director of East Region Electric Operations, Ameren Illinois.” It will also facilitate the efficient transmission of cleaner energy being generated at nearby solar facilities."

The enhancements are part of Ameren Illinois' multi-year initiative to modernize its energy delivery system.

Source: Ameren