ComEd, Partners Showcase “Community of the Future” Plans
February 02 2016 - 3:57PM
Business Wire
Plans include creating the world’s first
microgrid cluster in Bronzeville
Today, at a community event attended by more than 200 state
public officials and leaders from several community organizations,
ComEd showcased its plans to build its first “Community of the
Future” in Bronzeville.
Smart city technologies are already being developed and piloted
in neighborhoods across northern Illinois, and ComEd plans to
integrate new and future technology in one community to create a
“Community of the Future” – a neighborhood in which residents and
businesses enjoy savings, sustainability, and innovative products
that make their lives easier. Other products and services a
Community of the Future might offer include energy efficiency
programs, sensor-enabled traffic and parking, and a host of other
innovations.
“The Smart Grid Law allowed ComEd to make a $2.6 billion
investment to create a smart grid, and we are now building on this
foundation to develop innovative products and solutions that will
deliver value to our customers,” said Anne Pramaggiore, president
and CEO, ComEd. “We see the Community of the Future as the next
generation of our smart grid work – a way to tailor the grid so
that it’s customized and community based, more dynamic and capable
of solving specific customer needs at the community level.”
The foundation for building a Community of the Future in
Bronzeville is already set, thanks to the Smart Grid Law in 2011.
The entire community has received smart meters, which allow for
two-way communication between the utility and customer. Smart
switches, which help improve power reliability by rerouting
electricity when an outage occurs, have been deployed in the area.
The community offers a diverse range of customers and load types,
and it is home to critical public infrastructure such as hospitals
and police headquarters.
The backbone to the Community of the Future concept is the
development of a microgrid – a small power grid that connects to
the main grid or can operate independently. Microgrids help improve
grid resilience and security by lowering the impact of power
outages due to severe weather, security, or other disruptions.
ComEd received two grants from the U.S. Department of Energy to
explore microgrid technology, including $1.2 million to build a
microgrid master controller which will connect to Illinois
Institute of Technology’s existing microgrid, creating the first
microgrid cluster in the world, and $4 million to design and deploy
solar and battery storage technology. The microgrid demonstration
project in Bronzeville will serve as a blueprint for other
utility-owned microgrids around the country. It is also an
important precursor to ComEd’s proposed development, via its Future
Energy Plan legislation currently under consideration in
Springfield, of six microgrids to protect critical public
infrastructure in northern Illinois.
The journey to build a Community of the Future is already
underway. ComEd has piloted programs in various communities
throughout the service area, including a smart streetlights pilot
in Bensenville and Lombard. Through the Community of the Future,
ComEd will explore how these technologies interact with each other
on the grid and the value they bring to customers and the
community.
Alderman Pat Dowell adds, “Bronzeville is on the verge of a new
and exciting renaissance, poised to emerge as an epicenter of
innovation. We all have the opportunity to support a future of
possibility and innovation in Bronzeville, and I am grateful for
ComEd’s leadership and vision for making Bronzeville a Community of
the Future and in ensuring that this innovation serves our entire
community.”
Anne Evens, CEO of Elevate Energy, a nonprofit organization that
designs and implements smarter energy programs for low- to
moderate-income communities, says, “Elevate Energy is excited to
partner with ComEd on this initiative to support all communities in
their efforts to build a clean energy future. This project
increases access to solar energy and builds a more reliable grid,
which mark an important step toward smarter energy use for
all.”
ComEd’s smart cities innovation builds on its grid modernization
work, which has produced record power reliability for customers the
last three years. Illinois ranked second in the nation for
electrical grid modernization in the 2015 Grid Modernization Index
(GMI). The report, produced by the GridWise® Alliance and the Smart
Grid Policy Center, evaluates and ranks states based on their
progress in modernizing their electric systems with smart grid
technologies. The work ComEd has completed to modernize the
electric grid in northern Illinois, along with the utility’s focus
on customer engagement, helped position Illinois as the second in
nation.
Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based
Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation’s leading competitive
energy provider, with approximately 7.8 million customers. ComEd
provides service to approximately 3.8 million customers across
northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population. For
more information visit ComEd.com, and connect with the company on
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
View source
version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160202006590/en/
ComEd Media Relations312-394-3500ComEd.com/News
Exelon (NYSE:EXC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Exelon (NYSE:EXC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024