City of Naperville Public Electric Utility Selects West Monroe Partners as its Smart Grid Partner
Chicago, IL – April 4, 2010 – West Monroe Partners, a management consulting firm, today announced that it has been selected as the City of Naperville Public Electric Utility’s smart grid transformation partner. West Monroe 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).
West Monroe Partners initially supported the City of Naperville Public Electric Utility with its SGIG application in 2009. After receiving the grant, the utility began a rigorous process to select an implementation partner, ultimately choosing West Monroe based on its unique and holistic approach for managing Naperville’s project.
“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,” stated Mark Curran, director of Naperville Electric Utilities. “We are excited to begin this journey toward offering our residents a comprehensive set of solutions for conserving energy and saving money.”
The Naperville Smart Grid Initiative will improve the efficiency of energy distribution and create proactive ways to decrease energy demand and consumption—all strategies that will save customers money. Smart grid technologies allow utilities to better monitor and control electric demand and consumption on their electric networks.
“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,” said Tom Hulsebosch, director of Energy and Utilities at West Monroe. “We are excited to be a part of this project and are confident that the positive business case and benefits for the residents of Naperville, the utility and our environment will make this project a model for utilities across the United States.”
Naperville, Illinois, is located in the metropolitan area of Chicago with a population of approximately 145,000, making it the fifth-largest city in Illinois. Money magazine consistently ranks Naperville in the top three of its list of “America’s Best Small Cities to Live In.” Naperville has transformed itself from a quaint farming town into a prosperous city that operates independently of Chicago. The community thrives on its high-tech industry, with many companies including Alcael-Lucent, BP North America, Nalco, Nicor, Packer Engineering, and Tellabs having headquarters in Naperville. Naperville is also in close proximity to Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory, further establishing itself as a home to scientific development.