Ameren aims to build the three largest investor-owned utility solar installations in the state, the electric utility said Tuesday, unveiling a plan to combine the projects with battery storage technology to improve reliability for local customers.

The St. Louis-based electric monopoly announced that it had filed plans for the solar-plus-storage installations with state regulators earlier Tuesday. If approved, the company said it hopes to have the projects — which would cost about $68 million, combined — in operation by the end of 2020.

“The installations will be the first-of-their-kind facilities in the state and among only a handful of solar-plus-storage facilities in the Midwest,” the company said.

The proposed installations target small, rural communities, including Green City and Utica in northern Missouri, and Richwoods, about an hour southwest of St. Louis. Each of the communities are located on parts of the grid where transmission is vulnerable to prolonged power outages, Ameren officials said.