Underground cable upgrades benefit thousands in St. Louis City
Smart Energy Plan improvements aim to improve grid reliability in the area
To support reliability for thousands of customers in the City of St. Louis, Ameren Missouri is upgrading and modernizing several miles of underground infrastructure. Through the company's Smart Energy Plan, the Russell Revitalization project is a multi-year effort to address and improve the aging circuits and crowded conduits throughout the city. If left unattended, these vital pieces of infrastructure could cause reliability issues for customers.
Much of the cable being replaced was originally installed in the 1960s and has reached the end of its expected lifespan. In addition to new cable, the project replaces overcrowded conduits and improves route diversity, helping to prevent larger outages. The project also includes the installation of new concrete manholes, giving crews better access to the underground infrastructure in the event an outage occurs.
Since the start of the Smart Energy Plan, Ameren Missouri has performed revitalization work on almost 90 miles of underground infrastructure in St. Louis, and nearly 500 miles of underground cable upgrades throughout its service territory.
“Route diversity allows us to reroute the power and get our customers back online more quickly in the event of an outage,” says Tyler Clarke, supervising engineer for Ameren Missouri’s underground division. “The new cable will help reduce outages on the system and make it safer for our crews when they’re performing maintenance or restoration work underground.”
The project focuses on 35kV sub transmission lines that run south of downtown St. Louis. More than a dozen distribution substations are fed from this line – delivering power to approximately 41,000 homes and businesses, including some of the city’s largest employers.
Work on the Russell Revitalization project is expected to continue for several years. To learn more about Ameren Missouri's Smart Energy Plan, please visit AmerenMissouri.com/Plan.