Knowing firsthand how challenging conditions can be during severe weather, Ameren Illinois is gearing up for the winter heating season by making significant upgrades to its natural gas underground storage fields while the weather is good.
According to Tim Eggers, director of natural gas storage fields for Ameren Illinois, the company is investing $20 million in 2024 for dehydration system replacements, a new pipeline interconnect, ultrasonic meter modernization and many smaller projects. It also plans to invest another $20 million over the next three years to replace 80 vintage gas wells with 18 new horizontal wells at its Freeburg underground storage field.
Eggers said the Midwest’s history of brutal weather, like the cold experienced during the major winter storm in mid-January, highlights the importance of advance planning, which helps fine-tune extreme-cold operations. During one particularly harsh stretch of the storm, customers used the fourth highest volume of natural gas in nearly 15 years.
“Ameren Illinois’ natural gas storage is designed to provide 50% of our supply on the coldest of days,” Eggers told American Gas. “Equipment must be designed, constructed and maintained to operate continuously regardless of the wind and cold, and this can only be accomplished by long-term planning and the timely completion of summer projects, well work and facility maintenance.”
While customers fund these projects, the company budgets and plans storage investments to be mindful of customer affordability. The benefit: Eggers says the natural gas storage fleet lowers energy costs versus pipeline capacity and supply.
“Ameren Illinois is very fortunate to own and operate 12 underground gas storage fields with a dedicated workforce of 50 team members,” Eggers said. “This supply is very reliable—it is immune to price spikes as well as gas production and pipeline disruptions.”
Eggers says the company’s stored natural gas provides lastresort supply when load increases or disruptions occur and is a critical resource to balance supply and demand on an hourly or daily basis.