Ameren Missouri’s Ambitious Solar Expansion: Four New Solar Farms Planned For Clean Energy Boost

The power company, Ameren Missouri, is planning to build or acquire four new solar farms by 2026. The power of the 4 solar projects is expected to have a capacity of 550 megawatts, enough to power 95,000 homes.

The company will build two of the solar projects, while it plans to purchase the other 2 projects from other companies.

“These projects support our ongoing generation transformation toward more clean energy while maintaining the reliability, resiliency and affordability our customers expect,” said Mark Birk, chairman and president of Ameren Missouri.

“In addition, we are taking advantage of new federal incentives that will help us provide renewable energy to our customers at a lower cost.”

The four solar projects are part of Ameren’s plan to reduce its carbon emissions by 60% by 2030. Also, the company hopes to reach an 85% reduction by 2040 and net-zero emissions by 2045.

“Continuing to diversify our generation portfolio – in this case increasing the amount of solar generation – will pay off, especially on those hot summer afternoons,” said Ajay Arora, senior vice president and chief renewable development officer at Ameren Missouri.

The first of the solar farms to be completed will be Cass County Solar, purchased from Savion, which began construction work in 2019 and will start operating next year. Ameren Missouri also acquired Split Rail Solar, a 300 MW project to be completed in 2026.

The projects that Ameren Missouri is planning to build on its own are Vandalia Renewable Energy center and the Bowling Green Renewable Energy Center, both of 50MW in Missouri.

These projects will have a great impact on the Missouri power mix. More solar capacity is expected to be added over the next five years, and the 550 MG that Ameren will add, will be about a quarter of the total solar capacity expected in the next few years.