ComEd & Metropolitan Mayors Caucus Collaborate to Create National Model to Advance Smart City Solutions
May 04 2017 - 5:44PM
Business Wire
ComEd and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus (MMC) announced today a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will support the study and
development of new energy efficiency programs, smart streetlights,
and community and residential solar and other infrastructure
projects. The MOU provides for a one-of-a-kind collaboration
between ComEd and the MMC to develop a pilot for a national model
on how utilities and municipalities can work together to create
greener, more resilient and sustainable communities.
The announcement follows a green light from the Illinois
Commerce Commission (ICC) last month that established “smart” as
the new standard for all streetlights that ComEd owns in northern
Illinois. The new standard is expected to accelerate the deployment
of smart LED street lighting service that will leverage the
wireless communications network used by ComEd’s new smart grid
platform that allows for two-way communication between the utility
and its customers.
“ComEd and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus are working to enhance
the livability and sustainability of the communities we serve,”
said Anne Pramaggiore, president and CEO, ComEd. “We’re nearing the
completion of the smart grid modernization program which is
producing record reliability for our customers, and we’re eager to
begin leveraging the strength of this modern digital platform. We
will work together to inform cities and towns about the benefits of
smart streetlights, solar power, and other technologies. We will
also help municipalities that own their own streetlights to
identify ways to fund the conversion to smart LED lights. We hope
the lessons learned from this collaboration can be replicated
across the entire ComEd service territory, Illinois and the
nation.”
This new initiative will also get a boost from the Future Energy
Jobs Act (FEJA), which was enacted by the Illinois General Assembly
and signed into law by Governor Rauner last year. It goes into
effect in June and will increase funding for energy efficiency from
$250 million to $400 million annually by 2030. These funds create
savings opportunities for all customer classes, including
municipalities, supporting the development of new energy efficiency
programs as well as the conversion of current municipal lighting
systems to smart LED streetlights.
For the past six years, MMC has served as administrator of
energy efficiency programs for the public sector through a program
formally managed by the Illinois Department of Commerce and
Economic Opportunity (DCEO). The ICC recently granted a petition
proposed by ComEd and the DCEO that will allow ComEd to assume
responsibility for the program.
“We’ve had considerable success working with Illinois utilities
to create energy savings for our member communities, and we expect
to expand on this record by working more directly with them,” said
Robert J. Nunamaker, Executive Board Chairman of MMC. “Mayors
throughout the region are very well aware of the importance of
energy infrastructure. We understand what ComEd has done through
the development of the smart grid program and we want to work with
them to build on this smart foundation for the benefit of our
entire region.”
Preliminary discussions between ComEd and the MMC have been
focused on development of projects to convert existing street
lights to more efficient LEDs, which consume as little as one-third
of the energy and last up to one and a half times as long as the
fixtures they replace. In 2015, ComEd launched smart streetlight
pilot projects in Bensenville and Lombard. Informed by learnings
from these pilots, ComEd is developing plans to replace all 140,000
ComEd-owned municipal streetlights with LED streetlights beginning
later this year.
One of the first programs that the MMC will manage for ComEd
under the MOU is a series of workshops with the South Suburban
Mayors and Managers Association in south Cook County to help
municipalities identify potential projects that they’d like to
pursue.
Connecting smart streetlights to the ComEd smart grid allows
communities to remotely and instantaneously dim lights for energy
savings and brighten them for greater safety. They can also be
controlled on-demand by first responders to better manage emergency
situations.
Smart streetlights can also serve as a backbone for
sensor-based, smart city features that allow for a broad range of
solutions, from intelligent waste management to air quality
monitoring, snow removal monitoring and traffic management.
Founded in 1997, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus is a membership
organization of the Chicago region’s 275 cities, towns and
villages. ComEd and the MMC have a long history of collaborating on
issues that impact the region, such as energy efficiency, Powering
Safe Community grants and storm response through the creation of
Joint Operations Centers to help manage service restoration
following extreme weather events.
Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based
Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation’s leading competitive
energy provider, with approximately 10 million customers. ComEd
provides service to approximately 3.9 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.
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