Temporary power to beat the heat

Following its commitment to provide a reliable, safe electric service to its 3.4 million customers, Commonwealth Edison (ComEd), together with a Caterpillar dealer, recently installed 50 sound-attenuated diesel-fuelled power modules at three Chicago metropolitan area locations. At full capacity, the units are capable of supplying 80 MWe.

According to Sandra Allen, director of corporate communications at ComEd: "Early this year, ComEd began planning for the increased supply of electricity that was going to be needed. In response, the addition of these generating sets gives us additional flexibility, in terms of adding available power to the grid."

ComEd has invested a total of $450 million since 1996 towards improving its transmission and distribution system.

Each Cat XQ1750 power module is rated to provide up to 1.6 MWe of continuous power, and each is connected to a 2500 kVA transformer. The units are paralleled to the utility and tied into ComEd's distribution system.

To satisfy ComEd's requirements, Patten Power Systems, a Caterpillar power systems dealer based in Elmhurst, Illinois, located and coordinated the delivery of the power modules. The units were then shipped to ComEd from several Cat Rental Power dealer locations in North America.