Improvements make your service more reliable.
Every year, the Ameren Illinois Utilities invest tens of millions of dollars to improve and expand our electric distribution system in ways that will benefit the greatest number of people. Some projects improve reliability by adding system capacity to support community growth, or by updating aging equipment. Other projects add redundancy to the distribution system in a specific area, so the area can be fed from a different line if problems arise.
Following are examples of projects underway to promote safe, reliable electric service throughout our nearly 44,000 square miles of territory.
Throughout the service territory
Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent in 2009 to expand the use of a monitoring and control system to a number of new areas. This system gives dispatchers the ability to isolate a damaged area of the delivery system from a remote location and transfer the load served by that substation or line to a different power source. By allowing dispatchers to restore power to customers without waiting for a utility worker to arrive on site to make repairs, this remote operating system can reduce a potential outage from several hours to a few minutes.
In addition, “automatic switching” devices are being installed in additional areas throughout the Ameren Illinois Utility territory. This equipment automatically senses when a circuit has gone dead and can transfer load to backup power sources within minutes – without the intervention of a dispatcher. This ability to automatically transfer load can reduce a potential outage to a mere “blink.”
Also in 2009, the Ameren Illinois Utilities will wrap up a four-year project to equip 1.1 million gas and electric meters -- approximately half of our meters -- with automated meter reading technology. In addition to virtually eliminating the need for manual or estimated meter readings, the new electric meters automatically report when power is out at a location and when power has been restored to the location, for better outage response.
Champaign County
To help maintain necessary line voltage levels, the Ameren Illinois Utilities are replacing a 69,000-volt capacitor bank in the northern part of Champaign. This equipment will help improve line voltage for better equipment performance and to ensure adequate voltage levels are maintained to meet customer demand. Other capacitor banks are being added in substations serving portions of the Bloomington, Cambridge, Galva, and LaSalle areas.
Logan County
South of Atlanta, Illinois, the Ameren Illinois Utilities are upgrading a circuit to better serve customers. The project will replace 27 poles and install additional fuses to allow for better isolation of system issues, which will help limit the number of people affected by an outage.
Macon County
In Decatur, a $500,000 reliability project will boost circuit capacity from 4-kilovolt (kv) to 12-kv in the southwest part of Decatur. All transformers and lightning arrestors will be replaced, as will approximately 30 percent of the copper wire. In addition, an older substation serving the area will be retired and the new circuit will be fed from a newer substation.
Macoupin, Morgan, Sangamon Counties
The Ameren Illinois Utilities are investing more than $450,000 to upgrade the electric delivery system serving the communities of Virden, Auburn, New Berlin, Waverly, Piasa and surrounding areas. New switches on 34.5-kv lines will allow automatic load transfer to an alternate line should the normal source line experience an outage.
A similar project will provide access to a backup power source on the 69-kv line serving customers in Auburn, Waverly, New Berlin, Palmyra and surrounding communities, for faster restoration of service following an outage.
Madison, St. Clair Counties
A new substation on Bethel Mine Road in Caseyville will provide more reliable service to customers in east Caseyville, north Fairview Heights and O’Fallon, and southeast Collinsville. Along with the new substation equipment, the $2.5 million project will upgrade wires to allow switching between other nearby substations.
Also in the metro-east area, a nearly half-million dollar upgrade to the electric delivery infrastructure will help ensure continued reliable service to St. Clair County. The four-month project will install taller utility poles and add pole extensions in some areas to allow the line to carry more current. The increased line capacity will support ongoing growth in the Belleville and O’Fallon areas.
McLean County
By April, the Ameren Illinois Utilities will finish construction of a new 12-kv power line between the towns of Bellflower and Saybrook. The new line will provide a backup power source for approximately 750 customers in the Bellflower, Saybrook and Foosland areas. The $750,000 project includes approximately six miles of new wire, 134 new poles and additional reclosers, which help protect the overhead lines and limit the number of customers affected by outages. The installation of additional regulators will help maintain line voltage at proper levels.
Also in McLean County, the Ameren Illinois Utilities are adding a second substation transformer and improving protection systems at the Weedman substation near Farmer City, Illinois. This project will add capacity and redundancy to the distribution system in that area.
Peoria County
In the Peoria area, a $300,000 upgrade of the electrical system will improve reliability for customers in Peoria, Pekin, Morton, Washington and surrounding areas. Work is underway to replace 158 wood distribution poles that were identified as weak during an annual inspection in 2008. The project is expected to be complete by October.