Illinois Institute of Technology Leads Statewide Initiative to Create Jobs and Make...

Illinois Institute of Technology Leads Statewide Initiative to Create Jobs and
Make Chicago a National Hub for Smart Grid

CHICAGO, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT) announced today a $120 million statewide initiative to speed the
adoption of the Smart Grid in Illinois. IIT is leading the Illinois Smart
Grid Collaboration with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC),
the State of Illinois, the City of Chicago, Village of Oak Park, Galvin
Electricity Initiative, and more than 50 companies to make Illinois a hub for
the effective innovation, validation, deployment and evaluation of Smart Grid
technology. This initiative seeks to bring $60 million in federal stimulus
money to Illinois to lower electricity bills, reduce blackouts, make energy
cleaner and create green jobs.

"This Collaboration will help create an electrical grid that is secure and
reliable," said Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. "This investment will create jobs
and ensure Illinois families and businesses have access to technology that
will lower their energy use, and their energy costs."

"We believe the Smart Grid Demonstration Project, coupled with the Smart Grid
investments being made in the Chicago area by corporate and community partners
will be of great value to the residential and corporate citizens of Chicago,"
said Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. "This initiative is vitally important to
stimulating the growth of new, green jobs in this emerging economic area, and
we look forward to the possibilities this project can bring to the city."

What is the Illinois Smart Grid Collaboration?
-- The Illinois Smart Grid Collaboration is a statewide public-private
partnership led by IIT and UIUC to speed the adoption of the Smart
Grid
in Illinois and nationally. Key private and municipal partnerships
include Commonwealth Edison, Ameren, the City of Chicago, the Village
of
Oak Park, the Galvin Electricity Initiative and more than 50
companies.
-- The Collaboration applied as a Smart Grid Regional Demonstration
project, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, seeking $60
million (50% match) from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) for the
project.

-- The Collaboration is nationally significant in that it is working to
speed the effective adoption of the Smart Grid through a unique
community, consumer, and market-based approach. With engagement at
each
of these levels, this project provides a format to ensure the expected
benefits of Smart Grid adoption are widely adopted.

The Collaboration has four primary components
1. The Illinois Institute of Technology Perfect Power System: A complete,
replicable, and scalable demonstration of a "never-fail" Smart
Grid that would eliminate blackouts and make our energy cleaner, more
secure and more efficient.
2. The Oak Park Community Demonstration: A demonstration of the
technological, financial and policy investments communities can make
right now, in coordination with their utilities, to leverage Smart Grid
Advanced Metering Infrastructure (Smart Meter) investments to achieve
cheaper, more efficient, and more reliable energy in homes and
businesses. The demonstration will begin with Oak Park, Illinois and
expand to other communities.
3. The Illinois Institute of Technology Smart Grid Demonstration Center:
A
comprehensive technology development, demonstration, and evaluation
platform for Smart Grid technologies that will allow companies to
"plug-in" to an existing Smart Grid (IIT's Perfect Power
System) to speed the development of their new Smart Grid technologies
and
products.

4. The University of Illinois Smart Grid Validation Facility: An
incubator,
laboratory and advanced test bed that will allow companies to validate
their Smart Grid technologies to ensure they are used in trustworthy
configurations that meet cyber security and interoperability standards
before they are implemented on the grid.

Benefits to Illinois
-- Lower electricity bills through the Community Implementation model
-- Blackout mitigation and elimination of other power interruptions for
homes and businesses
-- Cleaner energy, and reduced carbon emission, by reducing peak demand
for
electricity
-- Access to the newest and most reliable Smart Grid technology
-- Product innovation, entrepreneurial opportunity and other economic
development spurred by the IIT Smart Grid Demonstration Center and the
UIUC Smart Grid Validation Facility
-- New green jobs growth as a result of Community Smart Grid
Implementations and new technology development initiatives

-- New green job training operated by the IIT Smart Grid Demonstration
Center

Background on ARRA Smart Grid funds
-- The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided nearly $4 billion
in
competitive funding for the Department of Energy (DoE) to expedite the
deployment of a more technologically advanced national energy grid and
to support investment in the development of secure, energy efficient
products that will allow American consumers and businesses to tap into
greener sources of power and use less energy.
-- Included in this funding is $615 million for regional demonstration
projects that can quantify Smart Grid costs, demonstrate the benefits
of
large-scale adoption, verify technology viability, and examine new
business models.

-- The Illinois Smart Grid Collaboration is applying for $60 million in
federal funding out of the $615 million set aside for "regional
demonstration" projects.

Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than 7,500
students in engineering, sciences, architecture, psychology, design,
humanities, business and law. IIT's interprofessional, technology-focused
curriculum is designed to advance knowledge through research and scholarship,
to cultivate invention improving the human condition, and to prepare students
from throughout the world for a life of professional achievement, service to
society, and individual fulfillment. Visit www.iit.edu.

SOURCE Illinois Institute of Technology

Evan Venie, +1-312-567-3202, venie@iit.edu; or Jeffrey D. Bierig,
+1-312-567-5057, bierig@iit.edu, both of IIT