ComEd, Digital Realty open new substation to support Franklin Park data center campus

A new, four-acre substation underwent a ribbon cutting at the Franklin Park, Ill., data center campus of Digital Realty this week, thanks to work with ComEd meant to support growing data center industry inroads into the northern reaches of the state.

The substation, outfitted with the latest transformer technology and electrical upgrades, offers more power capacity for the region, better able to meet growing demand on the grid. It also supports the latest in a line of 16 data center projects launched in the past two years. In this case, the support will immediately benefit Digital Realty, a global provider of cloud and carrier-neutral data center, co-location, and interconnection solutions, with more than 300 facilities across 27 countries – including seven in northern Illinois.

“Through our continued investments to modernize grid infrastructure, ComEd is delivering reliable, clean, and affordable power that 9 million people count on while making our region more attractive for new investment and the jobs that come with it,” Gil Quiniones, CEO of ComEd, said. “We know that data centers have many location options, but companies like Digital Realty continue to choose northern Illinois thanks to the state’s incentives as well as the investments we’re making to deliver industry-leading reliability, with access to infrastructure and clean energy needed to meet the demands of today’s customers. We thank Digital Realty for their continued confidence in northern Illinois and look forward to supporting their continued growth in the area.”

Construction of the substation was led by general contractor MJ Electric, backed by local suppliers. According to ComEd, investments into the grid like this over the past decade have helped customers avoid 18.8 million outages and save approximately $3 billion.