West Monroe Partners, a Chicago-based management consulting firm, has been selected by City of Naperville Public Electric Utility as the partner for smart grid implementation in the City of Naperville, fifth-largest city in Illinois, US.
West Monroe said that it will assist the City of Naperville with its smart grid initiative, which is partially funded by a Smart Grid Investment Grant (SGIG) as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
In 2009, West Monroe Partners initially supported the City of Naperville Public Electric Utility with its SGIG application.
Mark Curran, director of Naperville Electric Utilities, said: “We were impressed with the methodology, experience, expertise, and project strategy that West Monroe demonstrated during our selection process. I believe our organizations are a good fit for each other, and there’s a natural synergy between West Monroe’s credentials and our vision for this project.
The Naperville Smart Grid Initiative will improve the efficiency of energy distribution and create proactive ways to decrease energy demand and consumption, by allowing utilities to better monitor and control electric demand and consumption on their electric networks.
Tom Hulsebosch, director of Energy and Utilities at West Monroe, said: “Not only will this program help Naperville and its residents conserve energy; it will support the addition of renewable resources such as solar energy, as well as help manage the new demands that electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) will place on the network.”