Missouri approves first-of-its kind resource to boost energy reliability

Key Takeaways:

• The Big Hollow Energy Center introduces Missouri's first integrated natural gas and battery storage facility, enhancing statewide energy reliability for homes, businesses, and industry.
• Featuring an 800-megawatt natural gas plant paired with a 400-megawatt lithium-ion battery system, the project delivers rapid-response backup power during periods of high demand.
• This innovative, hybrid approach supports grid stability while advancing Ameren Missouri's commitment to reliable service while efficiently meeting customers' increased energy needs.

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Ameren Missouri, a subsidiary of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE), received approval from the Missouri Public Service Commission to move forward with the Big Hollow Energy Center, a new hybrid energy facility designed to strengthen energy reliability for all customers across Missouri, including residential, small business and industrial customers.

The approval authorizes construction of an 800-megawatt (MW) simple-cycle natural gas energy center paired with the state's first large-scale battery storage facility at a single site in Jefferson County, Missouri. The Big Hollow Energy Center will be integrated into Ameren Missouri's statewide generation and will support reliable electric service for customers throughout the company's service territory.

"Today's decision allows us to advance an investment that supports reliability for all of our customers," said Michael Moehn, group president, Ameren Utilities of Ameren Corporation. "Big Hollow will be part of the generation system that serves homes, businesses and communities across Missouri, helping ensure we can meet growing demand while keeping the grid dependable for everyone."

With regulatory approval in place, the Big Hollow Energy Center is expected to be ready to serve customers beginning in 2028. Like the Castle Bluff Energy Center, the natural gas portion of Big Hollow will be designed to deliver energy during the coldest winter days, hottest summer afternoons and other periods of peak demand, while also backing up the grid when renewable energy generation is otherwise unavailable.

Co-located at the site will be Ameren Missouri's first large-scale lithium-ion battery installation. The planned 400-MW battery storage facility will be a fast-acting resource capable of responding within moments to support customers' energy needs. Fully charged, the batteries could power thousands of homes for hours and help strengthen overall grid reliability, particularly during times of peak energy demand. Ameren Missouri plans to add 1,000 MW of battery storage by 2030 and a total of 1,800 MW across multiple sites by 2042.

The natural gas generation and battery storage facilities will operate independently while leveraging existing energy infrastructure Ameren Missouri already owns, reducing construction time and cost to customers.

"Big Hollow adds flexibility and resilience to the energy system that serves customers across Missouri," said Ajay Arora, senior vice president and chief development officer at Ameren Missouri. "By combining fast-starting natural gas generation with battery storage, the project helps ensure reliable service for homes and businesses during periods of peak demand and changing system conditions."

About Ameren Corporation

St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation powers the quality of life for 2.5 million electric customers and more than 900,000 natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area through its Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois rate-regulated utility subsidiaries. Ameren Illinois provides electric transmission and distribution service and natural gas distribution service. Ameren Missouri provides electric generation, transmission and distribution services, as well as natural gas distribution service. Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois develops, owns and operates rate-regulated regional electric transmission projects in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. For more information, visit Ameren.com, or follow us at @AmerenCorp, Facebook.com/AmerenCorp, or LinkedIn.com/company/Ameren. 

Forward-looking Statements

Statements in this release not based on historical facts are considered "forward-looking" and, accordingly, involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed. Although such forward-looking statements have been made in good faith and are based on reasonable assumptions, there is no assurance that the expected results will be achieved. These statements include (without limitation) statements as to future expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, strategies, targets, estimates, objectives, events, conditions, and financial performance. In connection with the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, we are providing this cautionary statement to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. The following factors, in addition to those discussed under Risk Factors in Ameren Missouri's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, and elsewhere in this release and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, could cause actual results to differ materially from management expectations suggested in such forward-looking statements:

• regulatory, judicial, or legislative actions, and any changes in regulatory policies and ratemaking determinations that may change regulatory recovery mechanisms;
• our ability to control costs and make substantial investments in our businesses, including our ability to recover costs and investments, and to earn our allowed returns on equity, within frameworks established by our regulators, while maintaining affordability of services for our customers;
• the effect on Ameren Missouri of any customer rate caps or limitations on increasing the electric service revenue requirement pursuant to Ameren Missouri's election to use the plant-in-service accounting regulatory mechanism;
• Ameren Missouri's ability to construct and/or acquire battery storage, as well as natural gas-fired energy centers, and implement new or existing customer energy-efficiency programs, including any such construction, acquisition, retirement, or implementation in connection with its Smart Energy Plan, preferred resource plan, or emissions reduction goals, and to recover its cost of investment, a related return, and, in the case of customer energy-efficiency programs, any lost electric revenues in a timely manner, each of which is affected by the ability to obtain all necessary regulatory and project approvals, including certificates of convenience and necessity from the Missouri Public Service Commission or any other required approvals;
• our ability to realize and support forecasted energy demand and capacity from new and potential new customers, including demand growth dependent on the addition of new data centers and other large primary service customers within our service territories;
• the effects on energy prices and demand for our services resulting from customer growth patterns or usage, including demand from data centers, technological advances, including advances in customer energy efficiency, electric vehicles, electrification of various industries, energy storage, and private generation sources, which generate electricity at the site of consumption and are becoming increasingly cost-competitive;
• the cost of battery storage technologies and our ability to obtain timely interconnection agreements with the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. or other regional transmission organizations at an acceptable cost for each facility;
• the presidential administration's change in federal domestic energy policy to support investment in fossil fuel infrastructure and the effect it has on Ameren Missouri's ability to construct and/or acquire battery storage;
• the inability of our counterparties to meet their obligations with respect to contracts, credit agreements, and financial instruments, including as they relate to the construction and acquisition of electric and natural gas utility infrastructure and the ability of counterparties to complete projects, which is dependent upon the availability of necessary materials and equipment, including those obligations that are affected by supply chain disruptions;
• advancements in energy technologies, including carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration, hydrogen fuel for electric production and energy storage, next generation nuclear, and large-scale long-cycle battery energy storage, and the impact of federal and state energy and economic policies with respect to those technologies;
• the effects of changes in federal, state, or local laws and other domestic or international governmental actions, including monetary, fiscal, foreign trade, and energy policies, foreign trade tariffs, executive orders, geopolitical developments, or extended federal government shutdowns or defunding;
• the effects of changes in federal, state, or local tax laws or rates; additional regulations, interpretations, amendments, or technical corrections to, or in connection with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 ("IRA"), including the effects of the OBBBA as it relates to construction timelines of solar and wind projects along with the ability to obtain materials for these projects to be eligible for federal production and investment tax credits, and the effects of the IRA as it relates to the 15% minimum tax on adjusted financial statement income; and any challenges to the tax positions taken by us, as well as resulting effects on customer rates and the recoverability of the minimum tax imposed under the IRA;
• disruptions in the delivery of fuel, failure of our fuel suppliers to provide adequate quantities or quality of fuel, or lack of adequate inventories of fuel;
• the effectiveness of our risk management strategies and our use of financial and derivative instruments;
• the impact of cyberattacks and data security risks on us, our suppliers, or other entities on the grid, including those arising from generative or agentic artificial intelligence, which could, among other things, result in the loss of operational control of energy centers and electric and natural gas transmission and distribution systems and/or the loss of data, such as customer, employee, financial, and operating system information;
• acts of sabotage, which have increased in frequency and severity within the utility industry, war, terrorism, or other intentionally disruptive acts;
• business, economic, geopolitical, and capital market conditions, including foreign trade tariffs or trade wars, evolving federal regulatory priorities, and the impact of such conditions on interest rates, inflation, commodity prices, and investments;
• the impact of inflation or a recession on our customers and suppliers and the related impact on our results of operations, financial position, and liquidity;
• disruptions of the capital and credit markets, deterioration in our credit metrics, or other events that may have an adverse effect on the cost or availability of capital, including short-term credit and liquidity, and our ability to access the capital and credit markets on reasonable terms when needed;
• the actions of credit rating agencies and the effects of such actions;
• the impact of weather conditions and other natural conditions on us, including the impact of system outages;
• the construction, installation, performance, and cost recovery of generation, transmission, and distribution assets;
• the ability to maintain system reliability by Ameren Missouri and the electric utility industry, as well as Ameren Missouri's ability to meet existing or future generation capacity and power obligations;
• the effects of failures of electric generation, electric and natural gas transmission or distribution, or natural gas storage facilities systems and equipment, which could result in unanticipated liabilities or unplanned outages;
• the impact of current environmental laws or their interpretation and new, more stringent, or changing requirements and environmental policies, including those related to New Source Review provisions of the Clean Air Act, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and other emissions and discharges, cooling water intake structures, coal combustion residuals, energy efficiency, and wildlife protection, that could limit, terminate or otherwise modify the operation of certain of Ameren Missouri's energy centers, increase our operating costs or investment requirements, result in an impairment of our assets, cause us to sell our assets, reduce our customers' demand for electricity or natural gas, or otherwise have a negative financial effect;
• labor disputes, workforce reductions, our ability to attract and retain professional and skilled-craft employees, changes in future wage and employee benefits costs, including those resulting from changes in discount rates, mortality tables, returns on benefit plan assets, and other assumptions;
• the impact of negative opinions of us or our utility services that our customers, investors, legislators, regulators, creditors, rating agencies, or other stakeholders may have or develop, which could result from a variety of factors, including failures in system reliability, failure to implement our investment plans or to protect sensitive customer information, increases in rates, negative media coverage, or concerns about company policies or practices;
• the impact of adopting new accounting and reporting guidance;
• the effects of strategic initiatives, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and reorganizations;
• legal and administrative proceedings;
• pandemics or other significant global health events, and their impacts on our results of operations, financial position, and liquidity; and
• the impacts of global conflicts and related sanctions imposed by the United States and other governments, including potential impacts on the cost and availability of fuel, natural gas, enriched uranium, and other commodities, materials, and services.

New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all of such factors, nor can it assess the impact of each such factor on the business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained or implied in any forward-looking statement. Given these uncertainties, undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements. Except to the extent required by the federal securities laws, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information or future events.

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SOURCE Ameren Missouri