ComEd awarded $14 million infrastructure grant

CHICAGO - ComEd said Tuesday it was awarded a $14.5 million federal grant that will be used to enhance electric grid reliability while also helping increase broadband connectivity in communities on the South and West sides of Chicago that lack equitable access to affordable broadband.

The grant is through the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, while the funding was made available by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure legislation.

"Advanced communications networks are essential to achieving higher levels of reliability and resiliency of the electric grid, especially as we connect more distributed energy resources like solar and battery storage to the power grid," said Michelle Blaise, ComEd's senior vice president of technical services.