EoW January 2012

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EuroWire – January 2012 27
News
Corporate
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.”
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.
“The truth is, many linemen and
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.”
ComEd (Commonwealth 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 – USA
Website:
Illinois firms poised to
help build Smart Grid
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