Southeast Missouri State University and Ameren Missouri are celebrating a bright anniversary. It has been just over one year since a 3,500-panel solar array at the Show Me Center began sending clean energy to the homes and businesses in the community. In the past 12 months, enough energy has been produced to power more than 130 homes.
“Since construction began, I’ve heard more good things about this project than any other we’ve done in the past decade,” said Russ Burger, southeast division director at Ameren Missouri. “It’s got people talking, and that’s great to hear. Seeing these panels every day reinforces how Ameren Missouri is expanding renewable energy generation while maintaining the reliability, resiliency and affordability our customers expect.”
Maintenance of solar panels
Ameren Missouri built, owns and maintains the solar installation as part of the Neighborhood Solar Program. These projects also create local jobs and provide valuable training opportunities for the installation and maintenance of solar panels. The company partnered with the university to make use of the open land in the Show Me Center parking lot.
These projects also create local jobs and provide valuable training opportunities for the installation
“We have a role to play in the future of this region – and that extends beyond our responsibility to our students,” said Dr. Carlos Vargas, president at Southeast. “This project has been a win-win for us, sparking interest in energy-related careers, providing sheltered parking for Show Me Center guests as well as contributing to clean energy generation for many years to come.”
Smart Energy Plan
The Neighborhood Solar Program is one aspect of Ameren Missouri’s Smart Energy Plan. In the past 12 months, a number of projects in the region have upgraded aging infrastructure and modernized the energy grid in order to enhance how customers receive and consume electricity for generations to come.
The projects include new smart technology in Gordonville, which will find and fix outages faster for nearly 500 residents in Cape Girardeau County. These smart technology upgrades deliver up to a 40% improvement in reliability on circuits that use smart equipment switches. Thanks to the Smart Energy Plan, grid modernization projects and economic development programs continue to support customer reliability and boost vitality in the communities Ameren Missouri serves, providing Missourians with a smarter, stronger and cleaner energy future.