Shell-Backed Savion Completes Sale of Illinois Solar Project to Ameren

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Last week, Savion Energy (Kansas City, Missouri), a portfolio company of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) (London, England), announced that it had completed the sale of a solar plant in Illinois to power company Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) (St. Louis, Missouri). The move will help Ameren achieve its goal of having net-zero carbon emissions by 2045. Both Savion and Ameren have several projects underway or in the planning stage throughout the U.S.

Savion secured a permit for the Cass County Renewable Energy Center near Beardstown, Illinois, in 2020, and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor Kiewit Corporation (Lenexa, Kansas) began work on the site in June 2023, installing up to 330,000 First Solar Incorporated (NASDAQ:FSLR) (Tempe, Arizona) thin-film solar panels to provide 150 megawatts (MW) of emissions-free generation when completed later this year. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can learn more by viewing the project report.

The plant is Ameren's largest solar site to date. The company plans to add two other facilities, located in Missouri and Illinois, totaling 350 MW to its portfolio later this year. The Missouri plant is being constructed by EDF Renewables North America (San Diego, California) under a build-transfer agreement with Ameren. The 200-MW Huck Finn plant in Audrain County, Missouri, is expected to begin generating power later this year, when completed by EPC contractor Blattner Energy Incorporated (Avon, Minnesota). Subscribers can learn more by viewing the project report.

As Ameren grows its renewable portfolio, the company also is taking near-term steps to ensure the reliability of its generation with plans for an 800-MW natural gas-fired power plant in St. Louis County, Missouri. The Castle Bluff Energy Center will take advantage of existing infrastructure by being built at the site of the former Meramec coal-fired plant, which Ameren closed at the end of 2022. The facility would use four General Electric (NYSE:GE) (Boston, Massachusetts) combustion turbines in a simple-cycle formation to provide 800 MW of baseload generation. Construction could proceed next year, putting the facility on track to be completed in 2027. Some opponents have voiced criticism about the project, saying that it will delay the impact of carbon-reduction goals and accusing Ameren of seeking to preemptively balance intermittent renewable loads that it has not yet acquired. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the project report.

The Cass County project that Ameren is acquiring from Savion is one of multiple solar-power Savion projects throughout the U.S. Examples include a solar project in Martin County, Kentucky, near the West Virginia border. In 2021, Savion got the ball rolling on plans to construct a 200-MW solar farm on 1,200 acres at the site of the former Martiki coal mine, a mountain-top strip mine that closed in the 1990s. The site has clear access to sunlight, and the facility will be able to interconnect with the 138-kilovolt Inez Substation. Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM) (Toyota City, Japan) has signed a virtual power purchase agreement for 100 MW of the facility's power. Construction began in 2023 and is expected to be concluded next year. Subscribers can click here to learn more about the project.

The company has even bigger plans on the drawing board for U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land about 25 miles east of Quartzite, Arizona. There, the company plans to construct the massive Ranegras Plains Energy Center on approximately 5,200 acres of land. The solar farm would include approximately 1.5 million solar panels on a single-axis tracking system to generate up to 700 MW. In addition, the facility also would include a battery energy storage system and would require an 11-mile generation tie-in. Savion plans to begin construction next year and expects the process to last about three years total. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the project report.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Database can click here to view reports for all of the projects discussed in this article and click here for the related plant profiles.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).