When operating, AmerenUE’s Taum Sauk Plant serves as a "pumped-storage" hydroelectric plant, storing water from the Black River in the upper reservoir, built atop 1,590- foot-high Proffit Mountain, and releasing it to generate electricity when power is needed. The water flows down a mile-long tunnel inside the mountain, turning turbine-generators to produce electricity. When power demand is low, the same turbines run in reverse to pump water back to the upper reservoir.
Built in 1963, Taum Sauk’s ability to come on-line quickly make it an important part of the reliable operation of the system, especially in times of peak demand and when baseload plants are offline for maintenance. In December 2005, a breach of the plant’s upper reservoir caused extensive damage in Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park below the upper reservoir and brought the plant offline. AmerenUE has expressed its intent to rebuild the plant, after successful resolution of all issues with the authorities of the state of Missouri.
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