EoW January 2012

News Corporate

Illinois firms poised to help build Smart Grid

specialists have had to look for out-of-state jobs because the work simply hasn’t been here,” said Robert Pearson, IBEW business manager, and chairman of the IBEW’s international executive council. “If SB 1652 becomes law, we would love to bring Illinois linemen back home to help modernise the grid and update the infrastructure that will support it.” Edison Company) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation. The company provides service to approximately 3.8mn customers across northern Illinois – around 70 per cent of the state’s population. ComEd (Commonwealth

General Cable also is a major supplier of cable to the wind and solar markets with transmission solutions that link green power sources to the grid. Its Du Quoin plant manufactures cables that connect wind turbines together in wind farms and collection system cables that accumulate the energy they create. INTREN, a Union, Illinois-based company that employs 300 Illinois residents, builds and maintains overhead power lines and installs underground lines. The company will be looking to increase its workforce as infrastructure improvements outlined in the bill move forward. INTREN owner Loretta Rosenmayer anticipates that to meet increased demand for her company’s services, she will need new employees.“Enactment of this legislation will create a new engine for economic growth in the state, potentially leading companies like INTREN and others that service the utility industry to create hundreds, if not thousands of new manufacturing jobs for the equipment associated with new investments in smart grid technologies,” she said. Meade Electric, which designs, builds and maintains electric and other utility systems, is a century-old Illinois-based company employing more than 1,300 Illinois residents from 80 different trade unions. Meade expects demand for its services to increase dramatically if SB 1652 becomes law. Meade Electric and INTREN both anticipate increasing their local workforces, employing IBEW linemen, technicians and other specialists to feed demand for people that will implement the $2.6bn investment programme.

Manufacturing, construction, high- tech and service businesses across Illinois are planning to ramp up operations to help strengthen and modernise the state’s electric grid. Several prominent business owners joined ComEd in calling for Governor Quinn to approve the Illinois Energy Modernisation Act (SB 1652), and shared their plans for expansion if SB 1652 becomes law. The bill, passed by the General Assembly last spring, will usher in $2.6bn of investment in Illinois to strengthen and modernise the Illinois electric grid, creating thousands of jobs. “The investment outlined in the bill presents state government leaders with a historic opportunity to grow the economy, create jobs and accelerate the growth of a new economic sector,” said Anne Pramaggiore, president and chief operating officer, ComEd. She also pointed out that the bill not only encourages job growth, it also mandates job creation. “SB1652 has provisions that require the creation of 2,000 real jobs at the peak of construction or we pay a penalty,” she added. Illinois manufacturing business will increase as utilities begin work to modernise the grid. General Cable, a manufacturer and supplier of copper, aluminium and fibre optic wire and cable products will likely need to increase its workforce to meet demand, according to company vice president Patrick Gorman: “Based on utility estimates, building Illinois’ smart grid could require more than 17 million conductor feet of General Cable’s medium-voltage distribution cable, primarily produced at our plant in Du Quoin, and we’re going to need to bolster our workforce to make that happen.”

ComEd – USA Website : www.exeloncorp.com

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EuroWire – January 2012