Ameren Electric substation application speculated to be located near Little Bonne Femme Creek

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Public Service Commission has until Feb. 28, 2027, to rule on a proposed substation plan by Ameren Missouri.

The application was submitted on Oct. 16 and plans to add a roughly 76,000-square-foot substation just southwest of Columbia.

According to a statement from Ameren, the substation's location has not been officially released. The project's total cost is also unknown.

"We generally don't provide detailed information about the exact location of our electric infrastructure in a particular area for safety and security reasons. The proposed Katy Substation would be constructed southwest of Columbia on land owned by Ameren Missouri," Ameren spokesperson Evan Asher said in a statement.

According to the application, the substation will connect to the existing 161 kV Loy Martin-Overton-3 transmission line, which runs from Ashland across the Missouri River to Overton. An application attachment of the proposed substation shows the building will be located near Little Bonne Femme Creek. Boone County data also shows Ameren owns land near the intersection of South Smith Hatchery Road and Woodie Proctor Road.

According to Ameren, the addition will help secure the power line in emergencies and give the company options for expansion.

Ameren serves nearly 5,000 customers in Boone County.

Currently, an outage of the [transmission line] results in an outage of the CWLD McBaine tap to the AECI McBaine substation," Ameren reported in their application. "By segmenting the line, the [proposed substation] would eliminate the potential for a line fault anywhere along the line between Loy Martin and Overton to interrupt electricity supply to the line going to the AECI McBaine substation."

The company added that in the event of an outage, the substation would allow a faulty line to be isolated without affecting the other lines.

If approved, Ameren plans to begin construction in 2027, with facilities being operational by spring 2028.

The project will be funded by existing funds in Ameren's treasury and competitive bidding will be used to find the construction company.