ST. LOUIS, Sept. 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ameren
Missouri announced today a forward-thinking plan to dramatically
increase the amount of wind and solar generation to provide
cost-effective and sustainable energy for its customers.
Ameren Missouri, a subsidiary of Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE),
plans to add at least 700 megawatts of wind generation by 2020,
representing an investment of approximately $1 billion. The potential exists to add even more
wind generation in the coming years as a result of improving
technology and economics, as well as renewable energy initiatives
with large customers.
The company also plans to add 100 megawatts of solar generation
over the next 10 years, with 50 megawatts expected to come online
by 2025.
"This is Ameren Missouri's largest-ever commitment to clean,
renewable energy," said Michael
Moehn, president of Ameren Missouri. "We are committed to
bringing our customers innovative solutions that are both
cost-effective and environmentally responsible while maintaining
the reliability our customers expect."
Wind Generation
The new wind generation is expected to be located in
Missouri and neighboring states
using American-made turbines. The source, location and cost of the
new wind generation is still under negotiation with several
developers.
"We expect this tremendous growth in wind generation to provide
great value to our customers, who will save money on energy costs,"
Moehn said. "Because of significant advancement in technology,
harnessing wind is less expensive than other forms of new
generation."
The planned generation is expected to be operational by
2020.
"We believe it is in our customers' long-term best interest for
Ameren Missouri to own this wind generation," said Ajay Arora, vice president of environmental
services and generation resource planning at Ameren.
Solar Generation
The addition of 100 megawatts of solar generation over the next
10 years is expected to be developed in multiple phases.
Planning is underway on two projects. Earlier this year, Ameren
Missouri announced plans to build a solar generation facility at
St. Louis Lambert International Airport. That facility is expected
to be complete in 2018. A separate project creates partnerships
with business customers to locate an Ameren Missouri-owned solar
generation facility on their property.
"These innovative solar programs have great promise," Arora
said. "Moving generation assets closer to where the energy is
needed most is one of the ways we're making the grid smarter,
stronger and more resilient."
Carbon Reduction
Further, the company is establishing a goal of reducing its
carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050 from the 2005 level.
"We are the first investor-owned utility in the state, and among
the first in the country, to announce a carbon emissions goal of
this magnitude," Moehn said.
To meet this goal, Ameren Missouri is targeting a 35 percent
carbon emissions reduction by 2030 and a 50 percent reduction by
2040 from the 2005 level. Since 2005, Ameren Missouri has
significantly reduced emissions, including a 26 percent reduction
in carbon emissions in 2016.
Specifics of Ameren Missouri's plan also include:
- Managing the largest, most comprehensive energy efficiency
program in Missouri's history. The
plan consists of a comprehensive portfolio of programs for business
and residential customers. The energy savings goal for the current
three-year plan is 570,000 megawatt-hours, equivalent to the energy
used by nearly 45,000 homes, and representing a carbon-emissions
reduction equivalent to taking 115,000 cars off the street. These
programs give residents and businesses tools to save money and help
make costs more predictable.
- Retiring over half of Ameren Missouri's coal-fired generating
capacity. This includes retiring the Meramec Energy Center in south
St. Louis County by the end of
2022.
- Addressing the need to transition to a smart energy grid that
can support more renewable energy, universal and private solar and
customers' desire for more timely information. In the next two
decades, the energy grid will be the lifeline for cleaner energy
connecting hundreds, if not thousands, of small and regional
renewable energy generators to the grid in real time while
maintaining the energy reliability demanded by customers.
Ameren Missouri's Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), a 20-year
outlook that supports cleaner energy in Missouri, was filed today with the Missouri
Public Service Commission, and is consistent with Missouri's Renewable Energy Standard. The IRP,
which is filed every three years, examines electric customers'
projected long-term energy needs and describes Ameren Missouri's
preferred approach to meeting those needs in a cost-effective
fashion that maintains system reliability.
"The IRP is developed with the input of a wide variety of
stakeholders and is consistent with Ameren's goal of transitioning
its energy generation in a responsible fashion to ensure
reliability while keeping customer rates affordable," Arora
said.
In order to add these resources to its generation portfolio,
Ameren Missouri is required to seek certificates of convenience and
necessity from the Missouri Public Service Commission for projects
located in Missouri and to obtain
interconnection agreements so that it can use transmission services
of the appropriate Regional Transmission Authority.
More information can be found at AmerenMissouri.com/IRP.
About Ameren Missouri
Ameren Missouri has been providing electric and gas service for
more than 100 years, and the company's electric rates are among the
lowest in the nation. Ameren Missouri's mission is to power the
quality of life for its 1.2 million electric and 127,000 natural
gas customers in central and eastern Missouri. The company's service area covers 64
counties and more than 500 communities, including the greater
St. Louis area. For more
information, visit Ameren.com/Missouri or follow us at
@AmerenMissouri or Facebook.com/AmerenMissouri.
Forward-looking Statements
Statements in this release not based on historical facts are
considered "forward-looking" and, accordingly, involve risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those discussed. Although such forward-looking statements have
been made in good faith and are based on reasonable assumptions,
there is no assurance that the expected results will be achieved.
These statements include (without limitation) statements as to
future expectations, beliefs, plans, strategies, objectives,
events, conditions, and financial performance. In connection with
the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995, we are providing this cautionary statement to
identify important factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those anticipated. The following factors, in
addition to those discussed under Risk Factors in Ameren's Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, and elsewhere in this release
and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, could cause actual results to differ materially from
management expectations suggested in such forward-looking
statements:
- regulatory, judicial, or legislative actions, including any
changes in regulatory policies and ratemaking determinations, and
future regulatory, judicial, or legislative actions that change
regulatory recovery mechanisms;
- the effects of changes in federal, state, or local laws and
other governmental actions, including monetary, fiscal, and energy
policies;
- the effects of changes in federal, state, or local tax laws,
regulations, interpretations or rates and any challenges to the tax
positions we have taken;
- the effects on demand for our services resulting from
technological advances, including advances in customer energy
efficiency and private generation sources, which generate
electricity at the site of consumption and are becoming more
cost-competitive;
- the effectiveness of Ameren Missouri's customer energy
efficiency programs and the related revenues and performance
incentives earned under its Missouri Energy Efficiency Investment
Act plans;
- our ability to align overall spending, both operating and
capital, with frameworks established by our regulators in our
attempt to earn our allowed return on equity;
- the timing of increasing capital expenditure and operating
expense requirements and our ability to recover these costs in a
timely manner;
- the cost and availability of fuel, such as ultra-low-sulfur
coal, natural gas, and enriched uranium used to produce
electricity; the cost and availability of purchased power,
zero-emission credits, renewable energy credits, and natural gas
for distribution; and the level and volatility of future market
prices for such commodities, including our ability to recover the
costs for such commodities and our customers' tolerance for the
related rate increases;
- disruptions in the delivery of fuel, failure of our fuel
suppliers to provide adequate quantities or quality of fuel, or
lack of adequate inventories of fuel, including nuclear fuel
assemblies from Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC, the Callaway
Energy Center's only Nuclear Regulatory Commission-licensed
supplier of such assemblies, which is currently in bankruptcy
proceedings;
- the effectiveness of our risk management strategies and our use
of financial and derivative instruments;
- the ability to obtain sufficient insurance, including insurance
for Ameren Missouri's Callaway Energy Center, or in the absence of
insurance, the ability to recover uninsured losses from our
customers;
- business and economic conditions, including their impact on
interest rates, collection of our receivable balances, and demand
for our products;
- disruptions of the capital markets, deterioration in our credit
metrics, or other events that may have an adverse effect on the
cost or availability of capital, including short-term credit and
liquidity;
- the actions of credit rating agencies and the effects of such
actions;
- the impact of adopting new accounting guidance and the
application of appropriate accounting rules and guidance;
- the impact of weather conditions on Ameren Missouri and other
natural phenomena on us and our customers, including the impact of
system outages;
- the construction, installation, performance, and cost recovery
of generation, transmission, and distribution assets;
- the effects of breakdowns or failures of equipment in the
operation of natural gas transmission and distribution systems and
storage facilities, such as leaks, explosions, and mechanical
problems, and compliance with natural gas safety regulations;
- the effects of our increasing investment in electric
transmission projects, our ability to obtain all of the necessary
approvals to complete the projects, and the uncertainty as to
whether we will achieve our expected returns in a timely
manner;
- operation of Ameren Missouri's Callaway Energy Center,
including planned and unplanned outages, and decommissioning
costs;
- the effects of strategic initiatives, including mergers,
acquisitions and divestitures;
- the impact of current environmental regulations and new, more
stringent, or changing requirements, including those related to
carbon dioxide, other emissions and discharges, cooling water
intake structures, coal combustion residuals, and energy
efficiency, that are enacted over time and that could limit or
terminate the operation of certain of Ameren Missouri's energy
centers, increase our costs or investment requirements, result in
an impairment of our assets, cause us to sell our assets, reduce
our customers' demand for electricity or natural gas, or otherwise
have a negative financial effect;
- the impact of complying with renewable energy portfolio
requirements in Missouri;
- labor disputes, work force reductions, future wage and employee
benefits costs, including changes in discount rates, mortality
tables, and returns on benefit plan assets;
- the inability of our counterparties to meet their obligations
with respect to contracts, credit agreements, and financial
instruments;
- the cost and availability of transmission capacity for the
energy generated by Ameren Missouri's energy centers or required to
satisfy Ameren Missouri's energy sales;
- legal and administrative proceedings;
- the impact of cyber attacks, which could result in the loss of
operational control of energy centers and electric and natural gas
transmission and distribution systems and/or the loss of data, such
as customer data and account information; and
- acts of sabotage, war, terrorism, or other intentionally
disruptive acts.
New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for
management to predict all of such factors, nor can it assess the
impact of each such factor on the business or the extent to which
any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to
differ materially from those contained or implied in any
forward-looking statement. Given these uncertainties, undue
reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements.
Except to the extent required by the federal securities laws, we
undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any
forward-looking statements to reflect new information or future
events.
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SOURCE Ameren Missouri