ComEd Expands, Digitizes Itasca Substation to Meet Anticipated Regional Growth

Increased energy capacity to help power development of new data centers and western O’Hare construction

CHICAGO, 29/11/2017 (informazione.it - comunicati stampa - energia)

ComEd has broken ground on an expansion project at its Itasca Substation as part of a long-range plan to meet an anticipated need for more power in the region, in part due to expected growth in the construction and operation of data centers in the Elk Grove area as well as business in the western O’Hare market.

Features of ComEd’s newly expanded facility also will increase energy capacity within an approximate five-mile area- enough new capacity to ultimately serve the power equivalent of 80,000 residential homes. The new substation is designed with an “Intelligent Substation Dashboard,” which offers digital technology that makes it easier for ComEd to identify potential issues and respond quicker.

“ComEd actively supports economic development throughout northern Illinois, and substation projects, like the Itasca expansion, will help ensure the electrical infrastructure is in place to meet the region’s growth and future energy demand,” said Fidel Marquez, senior vice president of Governmental and External Affairs. “We look forward to working with prospective businesses like data centers and other operations who are interested in moving their companies into the area.”

“Elk Grove is one of the most desirable data center locations in the Chicagoland market and the new Elk Grove Technology Park provides additional sites for growth,” said Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson. “With ComEd’s electricity capacity expansion projects underway, existing and future businesses will have the confidence that power requirements can be met now and well in to the future.”

“The western O’Hare market and the projected growth of 65,000 new jobs by 2040 in the new Illinois 390 tollway corridor is an important initiative for Choose DuPage,” said John Carpenter, Choose DuPage President and CEO. “We can now add ComEd’s substation expansion as one of the many reasons for businesses to grow in or move to DuPage County.”

ComEd has multiple existing substations serving customers in the area and goes through an annual short- (5-year) and long-range (10-year) planning process to assess expected load growth based on economic forecast modeling and actual customer usage.

Additional long-range capacity plans for the area call for construction of another new ComEd substation in north Elk Grove Village in the future.

ComEd's grid modernization program, called Smart Grid, is almost complete and has contributed to record reliability for its customers over the last four years. Now the company is focused on implementation of the Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA), ground-breaking legislation which will build off the Smart Grid foundation to help move Illinois to a clean energy future and provide greater access to renewables, energy efficiency and valuable job training within Illinois communities. Learn more here.

Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation’s leading competitive energy provider, with approximately 6.6 million customers. ComEd provides service to approximately 3.8 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population.