Ameren Missouri announces statewide solar project

Ameren Missouri is looking for sunny parking lots, rooftops and other open spaces across the state — suitable locations for solar electric-generating equipment.

The St. Louis-based utility company, which provides service in 64 Missouri counties and more than 500 communities, including Cape Girardeau, announced its “Neighborhood Solar” program this week and plans to spend at least $14 million on the project.

According to an Ameren Missouri news release, the “ideal partners” for the program will be not-for-profit organizations, schools, institutions or other nonresidential locations acting as a gathering spot in the community.

Sites for the program will be selected on the basis of an online application process. The company will score each application as it is received, looking at factors such as sun exposure and the potential amount of solar power potentially generated at each site, installation cost, energy grid support, neighborhood benefits, electric vehicle charging opportunities and ties to workforce training and development.

Ameren Missouri will construct and maintain the Neighborhood Solar installations.

Matt Forck, the company’s vice president of community, economic development and energy solutions, said the Neighborhood Solar program is about more than generating renewable solar energy.

“It’s about impact,” he said. “We’re measuring that impact in a number of ways, including increased job training, education and investments in renewable energy.”

Although residential customers are not eligible to apply as a solar-generating site, they will benefit from the addition of more energy coming onto the grid, the company said.

Initial sites for the program could be chosen as soon as December with construction starting in early 2020. The total number of installation sites will depend on construction costs, according to the Ameren news release.

“I expect Neighborhood Solar sites will touch all corners of our service territory across the state,” Forck said. “It’s another way we’re transitioning to cleaner forms of generation in a responsible fashion.”

More information and a link to the program’s online application can be found at AmerenMissouri.com/NeighborhoodSolar.

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