Missouri’s history in hydropower runs deep

Hydropower requires only the power of Missouri’s moving waterways, including rivers and streams.  Hydroelectricity emits no pollution and is maintained with rain and snow.  Pumped storage, a type of hydropower technology, can actually help store electricity generated by other power sources like solar, wind and nuclear for later use.

Dams along the Missouri River support 36 hydropower units.  These units provide an average of 10 million megawatt-hours of energy per year.

 Ameren Missouri owns two hydroelectric energy plants in the Show-Me State.  The Osage plant is located in Lakeside, Missouri was opened in 1931.  This energy center uses the clean energy of falling water to produce as much power as 225,000 tons of coal or one million barrels of oil.

Ameren’s Taum Sauk plant, a pumped storage plant, can be found in Reynolds County, Missouri and began operation in 1963.  The Taum Sauk’s new upper reservoir dam is the largest roller-compacted concrete dam in North America.