Lockheed supplying Li-Ion system to Chicago community microgrid demonstrator

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Visitors are shown around the control room of an existing microgrid project by Oncor and S&C Electric in Texas. Image: S&C Electric / Oncor.

A community microgrid in Chicago will be supplied with lithium-ion battery storage from aerospace and defence giant Lockheed Martin, allowing it to be ‘islanded’ from the local grid network.

Bronzeville, in the South Side of Chicago, is hosting a community microgrid built by utility Commonwealth Edison (ComEd). It is being developed with the help of a US$5 million grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) and is acting as a demonstration of the technology and its uses.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

According to the utility, the ‘microgrid cluster’ is being built in an area which has 10 facilities that provide critical services to the town, with the project addressing energy security and resiliency in the local area as well as aiding the integration of renewable energy including solar PV.

The cluster, connected to an existing microgrid at the nearby Illinois Institute of Technology, includes distributed energy resources (DERs) installed in stages of 2.5MW, 4.5MW and 7MW successively. The DOE grants were awarded so that the project can trial and demonstrate microgrid control systems as well as how large amounts of solar and batteries can be integrated with microgrids.       

Lockheed Martin will supply a 2MWh energy storage system (ESS) based around its Gridstar Lithium technology. The company entered the stationary energy storage market a while ago with its lithium product while a much-talked about flow battery system’s launch is imminent. PV Tech's sister site Energy-Storage.News has reported on some recent supply deals for Gridstar Lithium systems, including a dozen solar-plus-storage projects with developer Cypress Creek and a 17MWh supply deal with Peak Power in April.

The Gridstar turnkey system can be configured from 100kW to multiple megawatts and includes batteries, controls software and balance of system components and is certified to UL 9540 standards. Lockheed Martin Energy is also now working in other areas including demand response and energy efficiency.

The Bronzeville microgrid has been designed so that it can be separated or ‘islanded’ from the local grid and continue to serve local communities with power in the event of network issues. ComEd, Illinois’ biggest utility with around four million customers, said the project will serve around 1,000 utility customers and is scheduled for completion next year.

According to a notice from the DOE on the award of grant funding, the islandable portion of the grid is configured so that it could be expanded at a later date. The DOE notice said the project should enable solar and storage to constitute 20% to 35% of the microgrid’s peak load. The goal of one part of the overall project is to determine how best to achieve the “seamless integration of these systems in utility grids”. ComEd said it will be studied for around 10 years once it is in operation.

While traditionally considered a solution for very remote settings without connection to a reliable local grid, several microgrid projects have been announced or already built in the US which serve communities with existing grid connections with more reliable energy supply. These include Oncor’s microgrid in Texas with S&C Electric and the Brooklyn-Queens microgrid for Con Edison (not to be confused with Commonwealth Edison) in New York State, which similarly integrates 12MWh of energy storage resources. On another related note, S&C Electric also recently conducted an 'islanding test' at a different microgrid in Illinois, running the facility for 24 hours without support from the grid

7 October 2025
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 7-8 October 2025 is our third PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The events in 2023 and 2024 were a sell out success and 2025 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.
21 October 2025
New York, USA
Returning for its 12th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
16 June 2026
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 16-17 June 2026, will be our fifth PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2027 and beyond.

Read Next

July 10, 2025
US renewables developer Invenergy has launched commercial operations of 250MW Fairbanks Solar Energy Center in Sullivan County, Indiana. 
July 10, 2025
A report published by the US Department of Energy (DOE) this week claims that the previous government’s support for renewable energy could cause blackouts to “increase by 100 times” by 2030.
July 10, 2025
UbiQD has signed a supply agreement with First Solar to supply its fluorescent quantum dot technology for use in the latter’s PV panels.
July 9, 2025
Caelux has finished the first sale of its perovskite glass, which will be paired with a silicon module developed by a 'reputable manufacturer'.
Premium
July 9, 2025
PV Talk: Jon Previtali of VDE Americas explains the hard science behind managing hail risk, one of the costliest sources of damage to PV projects.
July 8, 2025
Donald Trump has issued an executive order to tighten restrictions on renewable energy tax credits just days after signing his “One, Big Beautiful Bill” act into law, which significantly cut federal support for renewables.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico
Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece
Solar Media Events
September 22, 2025
Bilbao, Spain
Solar Media Events
September 30, 2025
Seattle, USA
Solar Media Events
October 1, 2025
London, UK