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University City substation damaged by floods receiving much-needed upgrades

Ameren Missouri's Waldron substation was heavily damaged from historic flash flooding on July 26, 2022.

UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. — Ameren Missouri is working harder to keep the lights on for thousands of people in St. Louis County. 

Crews are making some much-needed upgrades to a University City substation that was damaged by flooding.

Ameren's Waldron substation was heavily damaged by historic flash flooding on July 26, 2022, which forced the utility company to find a workaround to keep the power flowing.

The substation serves about 2,700 customers. Ameren is currently using temporary equipment to keep the lights on, but that won't be for much longer.

The substation will soon receive major upgrades, which will not only increase the reliability for customers but also support more flexibility to the grid. 

Tommie Bugett, director of Ameren's North Metro Operating Center, said this is all a part of its plan to improve response time after storms and allow it to even restore power remotely.

"This substation is receiving an upgrade, which is going to receive a new switchgear, a new transformer, but also, we're going to have mitigation measures put in place to avoid such damage from flooding in the near future," he said.

A later phase of the project, according to Bugett, will include adding a floodwall to help mitigate potential future flood issues.

"We want to make sure that we provide reliable power to our customers with new technology, such as smart meters, better switching, things of such nature. Also, when we talk about storm risk, storm response time, now, we can actually restore power, just remotely," he said.

The upgrades are all part of Ameren's Smart Energy Plan.

Officials said they hope to have the new upgrades to the Waldron substation ready to go by June.

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