Missouri Commission Clears Ameren’s 300-Megawatt Wind Farm

The Missouri Public Service Commission approved an agreement allowing Ameren Missouri to build its proposed Outlaw wind project in Atchison County, according to an Aug. 16 press release. Ameren will acquire the proposed 299-megawatt facility from Enel Kansas LLC upon completion under a build-transfer agreement.

Under the agreement, Outlaw Wind Project LLC, a special purpose entity tasked with building the facility, will merge into Ameren Missouri after the facility is built. The project is expected to begin operation in 2020.

The approval comes on the heels of Ameren’s decision last month to terminate plans of acquiring a 157-megawatt wind facility in northwest Missouri as the transmission upgrades required to accommodate the project would lead to unacceptably high costs.

Ameren’s clean energy strategy, unveiled in March, calls for emissions reductions of 35 percent by 2030, 50 percent by 2040 and 80 percent reduction by 2050 from 2005 levels. The company expects to deliver on this promise largely by implementing its subsidiary Ameren Missouri’s 2017 Integrated Resource Plan that proposes to retire half of its current coal plants by 2037, invest about $1 billion in wind projects to achieve a target of 700 megawatts by 2020, and install 100 megawatts of solar by 2027.

Ameren Missouri is a subsidiary of Ameren Corporation. Enel Kansas is a subsidiary of Enel S.p.A.