The historic Bronzeville neighborhood, located on Chicago’s Southside is proposed as the location of ComEd’s first microgrid. Additionally, the Bronzeville neighborhood has been targeted for a broader ComEd Smart Community of the Future initiative that builds on the utility’s investments in grid modernization to pilot and deploy a range of smart city technologies.

The AECOM team supported ComEd in evaluating development of integrated resilience performance metrics for the Bronzeville microgrid and related grid modernization and smart city improvements. The metrics analysis focuses on defining the measurable and deliverable resilience benefits of grid modernization initiatives such as the Bronzeville microgrid system and includes the electrical system, critical infrastructure and community resilience. Community of the Future smart city support includes development and implementation of strategies for stakeholder outreach and engagement related to ComEd’s Community of the Future, smart city, grid modernization and microgrid initiatives in Bronzeville. Outreach approaches consider both general awareness and engagement related to the development of specific technology applications associated with the smart city investments.

Finally, the team assisted ComEd with planning for comprehensive modernization of urban street light systems to achieve energy savings, implement smart city service improvements, increase revenue generation opportunities and support City sustainability and resilience goals. A detailed implementation approach was developed that optimizes energy savings, prioritizes critical system upgrades and targets smart city service enhancements to areas of high need.

LOCATION
Bronzeville, Chicago, IL, USA

CLIENT
Commonwealth Edison (ComEd)

ROLE
Technical advisement as part of AECOM team