Press release
ComEd Awarded Nearly $15 Million Federal Infrastructure Grant to Enhance Grid Reliability, Help Close Digital Divide on Chicago’s South, West Sides
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Funding to leverage existing ComEd infrastructure to help increase access to high-speed broadband for 440,000 unserved
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[{"type":"text","content":"\nInfrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Funding to leverage existing ComEd infrastructure to help increase access to high-speed broadband for 440,000 unserved or underserved households in Chicago\n\n\n CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nComEd today announced that it was awarded a $14.5 million Middle Mile Grant by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that will enhance electric grid reliability and resiliency while also helping to increase broadband connectivity in communities on the south and west sides of Chicago that lack equitable access to affordable broadband.\n\n\nThe funding was made available by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), a once-in-a-generation $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure funding opportunity focused on building resilient infrastructure, accelerating an equitable, clean energy transition and creating good-paying jobs in communities. The NTIA made approximately $1 billion available nationwide to reduce the cost of connecting unserved and underserved areas by building out middle mile broadband infrastructure; the Middle Mile Grant application specifically called out investor-owned utilities as one of several entities eligible to apply for this funding.\n\n\n“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. “Like other utilities across the country that are stepping up to the challenge, we are proud to have partnered with community stakeholders to secure federal funding that will leverage our necessary investments in advanced communications networks to create the additional benefit of improving access to high-speed broadband on the west and south sides of Chicago.”\n\n\nThe COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the inequities of broadband access, with many of ComEd’s customers shut out from economic opportunities and access to remote services, including telehealth and remote schooling. At the start of the pandemic, according to Kids First Chicago, one in five children under the age of 18 in the City of Chicago lacked access to broadband; despite considerable progress in closing this divi...