Legislation passed in 2018 promised to modernize Missouri’s electrical grid. Today, that’s becoming a reality as our state is undergoing its biggest across-the-board power system upgrade. The work is massive in scale and amounts to more than a billion dollars in investment each year for Missouri. Yet, for most consumers, the changes happening so far are largely invisible — even
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Deep inside Missouri’s only nuclear energy center, you can actually feel power being generated. Steam pulses through the plant’s giant turbine column—spinning at 1,800 rotations per minute, causing a deafening hum and a slight, but palpable, vibration. “That’s what you’re feeling,” says Barry Cox, senior director of nuclear operations, standing beside the turbines. “They’re just massive, absolutely massive.” Everything feels
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Early on, it must have come across as an eccentric idea—using soybean oil to power vehicles. Yet, that’s the idea the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council and University of Missouri researchers were pursuing in the early 1990s. The soybean council had decided to invest in finding a way to create a new market for cheap, plentiful soybean oil. It turns out,
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In three short years as president and CEO, Suzanne Sitherwood has nearly tripled the number of customers The Laclede Group serves. Sitherwood joined the public utility holding company in February 2012, after she was recruited by The Laclede Group’s board for her proven acquisition prowess at Atlanta Gas Light Company in Georgia, where she had worked for 30 years and
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In 2008, Missouri voters approved a ballot measure to require the state accelerate its efforts to adopt renewable energy sources. The measure means that Missouri’s investorowned utilities must get 15 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2021. Two hydroelectric power plants and the expansion of solar power will help Missouri’s utilities meet those goals. But to make it
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Solar power is a small but growing source of energy in Missouri. Solar power installation expanded by more than 7,000 percent in three years, from 2009 to 2012, according to the Missouri Division of Energy. And solar capacity has expanded by more than 150 percent each year since Missouri voters approved a renewable energy measure in 2008. The strong growth
Read moreThe Missouri Division of Energy is developing the state’s first comprehensive energy plan, which is set to take effect May 31, 2015. The plan was proposed in response to new energy regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency that focus on reducing carbon pollution and lean toward renewable and sustainable energy sources. In order to meet the new Clean Power Plan
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In the world of economic development, we are always looking to tout Missouri’s strengths. For years, our low energy prices have been a key selling point. Even today, Missouri is among the leaders in energy prices. Only five states currently have cheaper energy than Missouri, according to the latest numbers from the US Energy Information Administration. In today’s information economy,
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