Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Data Center Project topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents press questions as Ameren and developers outline Warrenton data‑center plan
Summary
Ameren Missouri and the Greater Warren County EDC described plans to support large data‑center customers under Missouri's Senate Bill 4; developers said they will use closed‑loop cooling and pay for easements and line extensions, while residents raised questions about water, tax incentives, transparency of ESAs/CIACs and local impacts. A Dec. 4 public hearing is tentatively scheduled.
Rob Dixon, senior director for economic community and business development at Ameren Missouri, told the Warrenton Board of Aldermen on Nov. 4 that the company has filed a "Powering Missouri Growth" plan with the Missouri Public Service Commission to establish contract and rate structures for very large customers such as data centers.
"They have to pay their share of the cost," Dixon said, describing the proposal's pillars: long-term contracts (15 years minimum), minimum payment obligations, upfront financial security and exit fees to protect other customers. He said Ameren's integrated resource planning shows capacity to serve roughly 2,000 megawatts of additional demand by 2032 but that any individual customer's details are confidential.
Steve Etcher, economic development advisor for the Greater Warren County Economic Development Council, said horizontal developer Evolve Energy Partners is securing easements and will pay privately for line extensions from the nearby Root Beer substation, and that Crusoe is the vertical developer introduced for the Warrenton North Industrial Park site. Etcher said the development team intends to use closed‑loop cooling — "they will be avoiding the use of any private wells or portable water supplies for evaporative cooling" — and that the developer will provide site plans and engineering data during formal review.
Residents in the public comment period pushed the board for transparency on agreements and costs. Anna Farrar, a local resident who reviewed regional filings, requested that the city and Ameren disclose whether an energy service agreement (ESA) or a contribution-in-aid-of-construction (CIAC) has been executed, and asked how the city will ensure those dedicated construction costs remain the responsibility of industrial users.
"An ESA is a contract between a utility and a very large customer ... and a CIAC is a payment the customer makes to cover those construction costs," Farrar said, and she asked the board to publish any closed-session legal citations tied to the industrial-park negotiations and to make engineering and planning materials public.
Board members asked developers and Ameren for technical and financial detail; Dixon and Etcher repeatedly told the board that specific customer terms and some commercial documents are confidential but said they will present engineering, water‑use and noise specifications during planning and zoning review. Etcher said developers will submit a site plan to Planning & Zoning and follow local approval protocols.
What happens next: City Administrator Brandy Walters said the data‑center site plan is expected to be filed and tentatively set for the Planning & Zoning meeting on Dec. 4; the board indicated support for holding the public hearing in the high‑school commons to accommodate more residents.
Reporting note: The board's discussion included technical filings at the Missouri Public Service Commission related to Ameren's docket; the PSC, not the city, will ultimately review and approve any tariff or rate‑structure changes that affect how large loads are served.
