Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc Recruiting history

1962, March 28 - During a ceremony in Springfield, draft contracts between the soon-to-be Associated Electric and three western Missouri investor-owned utilities are signed.

In 1964, Associated Electric President John Buck said its first full year of operation “shows that through Associated the rural electric cooperatives of Missouri now have an abundant supply of low-cost wholesale electricity.

1965 - Associated Electric builds its first transmission line, a 1.5-mile tie line between M&A Electric Power Cooperative and Union Electric.

1966 - Associated Electric’s first big power plant, Thomas Hill Unit 1 at 180 megawatts, begins operating.

1968 - Associated Electric, the city of New Madrid and Noranda Aluminum Inc. work together to clinch a deal that would bring the aluminum smelter to New Madrid, Mo.

1969 - Thomas Hill Unit 2 goes on line, adding 303 MW for members’ energy needs.

1970 - Associated Electric begins serving the largest single industrial load in the state, Noranda Aluminum Inc., which it serves for the next 33 years.

1972 - New Madrid Power Plant’s first unit of 600 megawatts goes on line.

1974 - Associated Electric agrees to become a partner in the Black Fox Nuclear Project, which was later terminated.

1976 - Board authorizes construction of Thomas Hill Unit 3.

1977, June 1 - New Madrid Power Plant Unit 2 goes on line.

“The decade of the ’70s was a most difficult period for the electric utility industry,” General Manager Gerry Diddle wrote in the 1979 Annual Report. “It was replete with a multitude of new and changing government regulations, increasing inflation and high interest costs.”

1980, January - The Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission, commonly called the Municipal Pooling Commission, begins operating with the signing of a joint contract by six charter members.

1982 - Thomas Hill Unit 3, a 670 megawatts unit, goes on line.

Associated Electric built with compliance in mind, spending more than $1.1 billion since 1994 to improve air quality.

1995, December - The conversion to low-sulfur coal at both Thomas Hill and New Madrid power plants is completed, reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide 90 percent and allowing Associated Electric to implement an average overall rate reduction of 17 percent.

1996, October - Associated Electric announces a partnership with PanEnergy (later purchased by Duke Energy) to construct a 250-MW, gas-based power generation facility known as St Francis Power Plant.

1997, November - KAMO Power selects Associated Electric as the power supplier for its nine electric cooperatives in northeast Oklahoma.

1999 - The first units of a 1,633-megawatts construction phase of gas-based generation come on line to meet members’ peak demand needs.

2000, February - Selective catalytic reduction equipment, designed to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides by about 93 percent, on New Madrid Unit 2 becomes operational.

2002, January - Selective catalytic reduction equipment on New Madrid Unit 1 becomes operational, making New Madrid one of the cleanest coal-based plants in the country with cyclone burners.

2003, May 31 - Associated Electric’s contract ends with Noranda Aluminum.

2004, December - Associated Electric completes mine amortization of $342 million in costs 11 years ahead of schedule – further strengthening the cooperative’s competitive position.

2005, April 1 - Associated Electric announces it is proceeding with plans to build a coal-based generating plant to meet members’ growing energy needs.

The plan includes a wholesale power supply rate increase in 2006 – Associated’s first wholesale rate increase in 20 years – that will help the cooperative meet a projected $1.7 billion in capital costs for new generation and environmental controls on existing coal-based generation.

2007, May 2 - Associated Electric and its Thomas Hill Energy Center receive the 2007 Kenes C. Bowling National Mine Reclamation Award in the coal category for reclamation of the Bee Veer Mine in Macon County, Mo.

2008, February and March - Cow Branch and Conception wind farms in northwest Missouri begin producing power.

2009, April 16 - Associated Electric and Wind Capital Group announce the fourth and largest wind farm in Missouri: the 150-megawatt Lost Creek project in DeKalb County.

2011, June - Chouteau 2, a 540-megawatt, combined-cycle natural gas unit in Pryor, Okla., goes online on schedule and under budget.

2012, December - Flat Ridge 2 Wind Farm, in Kansas, moves into full commercial operation.

2018, June -- Associated completes 18-month, cooperativewide process to develop Long-term Strategic Plan and presents plan and strategies to members at annual meeting.