As cities around the world search for more renewable—and resilient—energy options, a project in Chicago’s historically Black Bronzeville neighborhood is about to power up “a laboratory of what the future might look like.” Led by utility company ComEd, the six-year, US$25 million project is believed to be the first neighborhood-scale microgrid cluster in the country. Most microgrids support specific buildings or institutions, but the bigger vision is to create an interconnected web of distributed energy resources. In this case, the team will be connecting a utility microgrid to a customer microgrid at a nearby university. And talk about a power couple: Not only can they disconnect from and reconnect to Chicago’s citywide grid at will, they can transfer power to keep everyone in service. Along with tackling all the technological hurdles, ComEd worked closely with community leaders and residents to address concerns about the project’s impact on the community. As part of that collabora...