Underground and out of sight, the newest piece of Chicago's energy infrastructure is pushing kilowatts through one of the city's historic neighborhoods.
Dubbed"the Black Metropolis," Bronzeville has a storied past. It was the site of the first open-heart surgery, the birthplace of American gospel music in the 1930s, and the home of legends including the Olympian Jesse Owens and the musician Louis Armstrong. Last year, President Joe Biden and Congress declared it a National Heritage Area.
"This is only a starting point," Zheng said."We are also thinking about how to expand this kind of innovative technology."The concept of microgrids has become more popular as demands for energy backups have risen in the wake of extreme weather events like Superstorm Sandy in New York and New Jersey in 2012 and the winter storms in Texas in 2021.
"The shorter you can make the distance between where energy is generated and where it has to be delivered, the more significantly you reduce the problem," she said.that"as much as 5% to 15% of the electricity generated by a power plant disappears by the time it reaches the consumer."by ComEd, Bronzeville has grown into a hub for green-energy projects. It's received a grant from the Department of Energy to help finance the microgrid.