ComEd Commissions New DOE-Funded Solar, Battery Storage in Rockford

ComEd, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), today celebrated the commissioning of a new battery-energy storage system in Rockford. This battery system is a critical component of ComEd’s ongoing $6.5 million solar and battery energy storage project, funded in part through the DOE Enabling Extreme Real-Time Grid Integration of Solar Energy (ENERGISE) program. The pilot project pairs this new battery energy storage system with an existing customer-owned solar deployment, located at Rockford’s Prairie Street Brewing Company, and will enable ComEd’s research into distributed energy resource management systems that will support the efficient use of solar power generation and grid resiliency.

“Building on our nation-leading reliability and resiliency, ComEd continues to invest in modernizing and strengthening the grid our customers rely on,” said Gil C. Quiniones, President and CEO of ComEd. “Exploratory pilot projects like this one are crucial to ensuring the grid is fully prepared to support large-scale solar and battery energy storage solutions that are key to the clean energy future in northern Illinois.”

The test pilot, funded by $3.2 million in DOE grant funding and $3.3 million from ComEd and other project partners, will explore the benefits of distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS) to support the integration of private solar panel deployments to grid-connected battery energy storage systems. The results will provide critical data to support the scalability of similar generation deployments throughout northern Illinois to encourage expanded solar generation and support a more resilient and adaptive power grid.

The solar panels, owned by the Koch family and located at local Rockford brewery Prairie Street Brewing Company, provide additional power generation for the brewery. Through this is a single-location battery test pilot, ComEd deployed a battery energy storage solution half a mile from the brewery to store power generated from the panels and better connect that energy with the community’s grid. This project is also directly supporting the brewery by maximizing the potential of their solar energy generation.

A provided statement by the Koch Family said, “Prairie Street Brewing Company and the Koch Family are excited at the opportunity to partner with ComEd on this solar and energy storage project. We installed our solar panels in 2020 and have seen great benefits for our power usage. We hope that this project helps encourage other northern Illinois businesses to explore their own solar installations which can benefit their bottom line while simultaneously supporting their communities.”