Ameren Missouri's Smart Energy Plan supports reliability in southeast Missouri

New storm-hardening upgrades to improve electric grid between Morehouse and Miner

Shortly after sunrise on May 26, 2024, a pair of tornadoes formed in southeast Missouri, damaging homes and businesses, toppling trees and snapping power poles. Dexter was hit hard by an EF-2 tornado with winds reaching upwards of 125 mph, while an EF-3 tornado tore across three counties and left a trail of damage from south of Morehouse to north of Sikeston. As Ameren Missouri crews surveyed the damage and worked to safely restore service, they found more than 90 power poles across the area had been snapped by the storms.

To minimize this type of damage to the area's electric grid moving forward, Ameren Missouri has been investing in storm-hardening upgrades throughout southeast Missouri. As a part of the Smart Energy Plan, the company is upgrading more than 6 miles of overhead lines between Morehouse and Miner. These enhancements include the addition of six super storm poles – dual-layer composite poles secured with guy wires. These super storm poles are designed to withstand violent wind gusts and act as an anchor for the rest of the poles on the circuit.

Crews work to safely set one of the new super storm poles in southeast Missouri.

"One issue we see is a cascading effect – where one broken pole pulls more down with it, like dominoes,” said Russ Burger, division director for Ameren Missouri’s Southeast Missouri division. “Super storm and other composite poles help minimize this type of damage, which can help improve restoration times.”

The Morehouse to Miner project also addresses “galloping” lines caused by high, straight-line winds by installing simple PVC coils known as air flow spoilers. These devices minimize potentially damaging movement, especially if the lines are weighed down by ice in the winter.

Ameren Missouri has completed storm-hardening upgrades, like this project, on more than 200 circuit miles across its service territory. These hardened lines have experienced a significant reduction in outages as a result. “We understand how important reliability is for the people who live and work in this area,” said Burger. “These improvements will make the grid more resilient and support improved reliability for more than 900 customers.”

The upgrades along this section of circuit are expected to be completed before the end of the year.