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Ameren has filed plans with the Missouri Public Service Commission for a new 800-megawatt (MW) natural gas-fired peaking plant and co-located 400-megawatt battery storage facility, a first-of-a-kind project for the company.
The Big Hollow Energy Center, to be built in Jefferson County, would be the company’s first hybrid site combining large-scale combustion and lithium-ion storage.
Ameren said the project is part of a long-range plan to enhance grid reliability. It could come online by 2028, the company said.
The simple-cycle gas plant will be designed to ramp quickly and operate in extreme seasonal conditions, The 400-MW battery installation-Ameren’s largest to date-will charge from the grid when generation exceeds load and discharge when demand spikes.
Ameren Missouri has pledged to install 1,000 MW of battery storage by 2030 and 1,800 MW by 2042 as part of its integrated resource plan.
“It is crucial to have a balanced mix of generation technologies and equally important to strategically locate them across the region,” said Ajay Arora, Ameren senior vice president and chief development officer. “This approach maximizes the energy output from these resources.”
