Community Microgrid

A. WHERE IT’S AT

Solar panels, like the ones at 29th Street and Dearborn Ave supply power to the microgrid; battery storage (pictured below) is located behind the Renaissance Mural at 38th and Michigan where it integrates renewable energy, powers for peak demand, nighttime use, and cloudy days.

B. WHAT IT’S FOR

A microgrid is an advanced system that coordinates, stores, and delivers electricity. Electrons may be too small for the eye to see, but they do a lot of useful things as long as they are flowing. ComEd engineers designed the Bronzeville Community Microgrid to keep power flowing to more than 1,000 residences, businesses, and public institutions, so that they can light their houses, charge their phones, and run their businesses, even when there is an outage nearby. This microgrid can also connect to the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) to form a microgrid cluster! Within the microgrid, ComEd is demonstrating other advanced grid technologies to explore new strategies to improve the service that we provide across the region.

C. WHO MADE IT

Supported by federal funding from the Department of Energy, the BCM is a demonstration project led by ComEd on behalf of Illinois customers to expand the boundaries of energy system resilience.