Bronzeville neighborhood now home to pioneering power grid

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — ComEd and the U.S. Department of Energy have launched one of the nation's first neighborhood-scale microgrids in the Bronzeville neighborhood.

Celebrating the switching on of the Bronzeville Community Microgrid on Chicago’s South Side, city and state leaders came together at the Dearborn Homes Community Buildings.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said people only think about electricity when they get their bill each month, or when there’s extreme weather.

“So what we’re trying to prove today, is that we can take a community — the Bronzeville community — and we can give them a reliable source of electricity that they know, if something terrible happens, they’re likely to still have electricity coming their way,” Durbin said.

The neighborhood-scale grid will provide service to about 1,000 customers.

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