Ameren Missouri Improving Service Reliability With Smart Grid Technology In St. Francois County

As part of the ongoing effort to maintain a high level of service reliability for customers and to modernize aging infrastructure, Ameren Missouri installed smart grid technology in St. Francois County.

Smart grid technology consists of equipment such as "IntelliRupters" that can quickly identify and isolate a service issue, which results in faster energy restoration for customers while permanent repairs are being made.

"Our investments in a smarter grid are all about service reliability for our customers," said Russell Burger, director of the SEMO division for Ameren Missouri. “We are committed to building a stronger grid to ensure dependability, and this is why a large portion of the scheduled projects this year include smart grid technology in areas that have aging equipment or locations that have experienced reliability and outage issues that we want to improve.”

IntelliRupters act to sense the condition of the electric system and determine appropriate actions to reduce the number of customers affected by an outage. They work in tandem with other outage detection devices to isolate the outage and reduce the length of the disruption. These smart switches enable Ameren Missouri to re-route power from another circuit. "What this means for our customers is that we have the ability to restore power generally within minutes," Burger said.

For more information on Ameren Missouri reliability projects visit AmerenMissouri.com/reliability.