Ameren Corporation's Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois (ATXI) has completed and energized the final span of the 345 kV Illinois Rivers Project, worth $1.4 billion.
The Illinois Rivers Project includes a 375 mile, 345 kV transmission line from Palmyra, Missouri, to Sugar Creek, Indiana.
The project was approved in 2011 by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), a regional transmission organization.
It is part of a coordinated, multi-state group of transmission projects known as Multi-Value Projects, being developed by transmission owners in the Midwest to improve and strengthen the regional energy grid and to facilitate the integration of renewable energy.
The Illinois Rivers Project is ATXI's third completed Multi-Value Project. Other ATXI Multi-Value Projects include the Spoon River Project in Illinois, which was completed in February 2018, and the Mark Twain Transmission Project, which went into service in Northeast Missouri in December 2019.
The final span of the Illinois Rivers Project was placed into service in late December 2020.
The project is expected to secure improved energy grid reliability, increased transmission capacity, access to lower-cost energy and electricity from renewable sources for Midwestern homes and businesses, the company said in a press release.
