EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — Ameren Illinois is upgrading an East St. Louis substation as part of its initiative to modernize the power grid and improve reliability.
The $14.3 million project is expected to be completed by November and will improve the resiliency and power service to the 30,000 customers in the area.
The new substation is being built on a 2.7-acre plot of land adjacent to the existing 2.3-acre plot of land where the current substation resides. During construction, drivers may experience detours or lane closures on 20th Street between Martin Luther King Drive and Ridge Avenue.
Ameren said the substation will have new powerlines and additional pathways to reroute power to improve reliability.
This will be the third substation improvement in the East St. Louis area in the last four years. In 2016, the company completed construction of the Katherine Dunham Substation at the intersection of Cleveland and 27th Street to strengthen the local grid. In 2017, the company reinvested $10.6 million to completely renovate its local operating center in town.
Ameren said it has completed hundreds of projects since launching the initiative in 2012. Ameren said the reliability of service has improved by 17% and outage times have been reduced by 19%.
