Mohammad Shahidehpour is the

Bodine Chair Professor and Director

of Robert W. Galvin Center for
A Functional Microgrid for
Electricity Innovation at Illinois
Institute of Technology. Dr. Enhancing Reliability,
Shahidehpour is the recipient of the
Honorary Doctorate for the Sustainability, and Energy
Polytechnic University of Bucharest
in Romania. He is a Research Efficiency
Professor at King Abdulaziz
University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,
and Honorary Professor in North The Illinois Institute of Technology’s Perfect Power
China Electric Power University in
Beijing and Sharif University in
project has converted its Chicago campus to a microgrid,
Tehran. He is an IEEE Fellow. providing a glimpse into the future of electricity
Joseph F. Clair, P.E., serves as
innovation in an urban community. The microgrid
Director of Campus Energy and demonstrates that cost-effective electric power can be
Sustainability for the Illinois
Institute of Technology. As part of his
delivered to the consumer precisely as that consumer
responsibilities at IIT, Mr. Clair requires it, without fear of failure and without increasing
served as implementation project costs.
manager for the Perfect Power/DOE
Smart Grid project – one of the first
10 Smart Grid projects in the Mohammad Shahidehpour and Joseph F. Clair
country. Prior to his work at IIT,
Mr. Clair served as Managing
Engineer for the Chicago Public
Schools, overseeing the energy I. Earlier Infrastructure substations located on the west
efficiency of new building design and
before Microgrid end of campus: South Substation
working with building engineers to
improve efficiency in existing at 3400 South Federal Street and
buildings. In 16 years in the The Illinois Institute of North Substation at 3200 South
construction business, Mr. Clair has Technology sits about 2.5 miles Federal Street. These substations
worked as a contractor, designer, south of downtown of Chicago, shown in Figure 1 receive
construction manager, bounded by 35th Street on the electricity via three feeders from
commissioning authority, and now south, Michigan Avenue on the ComEd, one unique to each
owner, seeing all ends of the building
east, 29th/30th Street on the substation and one shared by the
business.
north, and the Metra Rock Island substations. The feeders carry a
line on the west. As of 2006, IIT nominal capacity for the campus
received electricity feed from the of 20 MW; however, due to
local utility – ComEd – at two ComEd requirements, the campus

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 [(Figure_1)TD$IG]

without very detailed and

expensive surveys and testing, the
university could not identify the
most troubled feeder segments
and prioritize replacements.
During that period, IIT
experienced varied and sporadic
outages, bringing consequences
to the services provided by the
university. Several buildings lost
power to laboratory or space
conditioning equipment,
Figure 1: IIT Microgrid-Utility Interconnection resulting in lost experimental data
and subjects. Equipment in all
areas of the campus required
can draw no more than 14 MW and similar threats from repair or replacement due to
from the combined service. If exposure; however, given the undervoltage on the incoming
campus demand exceeds 14 MW, campus’s proximity to Lake utility service. Most costly, feeder
the utility will require the Michigan and the height of the damage on the residential side of
university to build a new water table, the underground campus caused outages that
substation. manholes and duct banks come required the temporary relocation

S tarting at the substations, IIT

owns and manages
electricity distribution to almost
into regular contact with
groundwater. This, combined
with the age of the equipment, led
all campus buildings. The original IIT in 2003 to begin the process of
substations and the technology renovating the electric grid on
within them dates back to the campus by refitting the North
implementation of the Mies Van Substation with modern
Der Rohe campus plan in the equipment and controls, during
1940s and 1950s. Execution of that which time ComEd also
plan placed almost all of the upgraded its equipment at the
electrical distribution substation. Prior to the
underground or within a implementation of the microgrid,
building. A cross-tie feeder runs any scale of outage response
between the substations to allow required the IIT maintenance
for operation of one from the mechanic to visit the affected area
other in the event of a utility directly, armed with no
failure in the shared feeder and information about the condition
one of the individual feeders, or of the equipment or affected
operation of the North Substation feeders.
from the on-site generation
present adjacent to the South
Substation.
F or the decade preceding the
implementation of the IIT
microgrid, the university received
The underground placement sporadic reliability both from the
protected the electrical campus infrastructure and the
infrastructure from storm damage utility feeds to the campus. Also,
of campus residents to nearby
hotels, at a steep cost to the
university. The IIT community
had little faith in the reliability of
the system, and the university
administration did not have
resources to address the myriad
issues associated with the aging
infrastructure.
II. The Promise
The Perfect Power microgrid
designed and implemented at IIT
has resulted in an intelligent
power system that will not fail the
end user. The microgrid consists
of a loop system and redundant
electricity supply. It offers IIT the
opportunity to eliminate costly
outages, minimize power
disturbances, moderate an ever-
growing demand, and curb
greenhouse gas emissions. The IIT
microgrid would specifically:

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 [(Figure_2)TD$IG]

Figure 2: IIT Distribution System Layout Based on a High-Reliability Distribution System

1. Demonstrate the viability of
Perfect Power at IIT;
2. Allow for a decrease of 50
percent of grid electricity
demand;
3. Create a permanent 20
percent decrease in peak demand
from the 2007 level;
4. Defer planned substation
investments through demand
reduction;
5. Demonstrate the economic
benefits of Perfect Power, and
6. Offer a design that can be
replicated on any other microgrid.
The microgrid design
addresses three areas of service
including reliability, efficiency,
sustainability, as discussed
below.
switches installed throughout
campus to automatically
isolate ground faults in feeder
segments while maintaining
service to all buildings on the
loop, and
 Increased ease of deployment
of on-site generation and storage
to meet critical loads even in the
absence of utility feed (i.e., island
mode).
Figure 2 depicts the seven-loop
configuration established at IIT in
which each loop, connected to one
of the two substations, is
equipped with HRDS switches.
[(Figure_3)TD$IG]
Figure 3 shows the installation of
a HRDS switch at IIT.
F or a building to experience a
complete outage due to
failure of the campus grid, at
least two coincident and
unrelated failures would have to
occur in feeder segments on the
same loop. Even though the
project did not call for
replacement of the entire
campus infrastructure, the
chances of two such failures
occurring simultaneously is far
less than the chances of one
occurring, thus increasing

A. Reliability

The microgrid will increase the

campus reliability through two
strategies:
 A high-reliability
distribution system (HRDS) that
replaces the radial feeder
structure with a loop feeder
structure that employs smart Figure 3: HRDS Switch

October 2012, Vol. 25, Issue 8 1040-6190/$–see front matter # 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved., http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2012.09.015 23
 [(Figure_4)TD$IG]

B. Sustainability

When a large electrical user

reduces energy consumption and
demand, this has the tangential
benefit of reducing emissions
related to that consumption. With
increased awareness of impact,
microgrids can use the data to
install less harmful sources of
energy and purchase cleaner
electricity.

Figure 4: Architecture of Master Controller T he on-site microgrid

reliability. Since project
implementation, IIT has
experienced no feeder outages
on the North Substation.
individual building controllers.
Intelligent switching and
advanced coordination
technologies of master controller
generation could be used for
reliability and economic
improvements in the main grid-
connected and the island modes.
The on-site generation at IIT
includes combustion
microturbines connected to the

F or situations where the

campus loses feed from the
utility, control strategies in the
through communication systems
facilitates rapid fault assessments
and isolations in the IIT
North Substation, storage and
renewable energy sources, and an
8 MW gas-fired power plant
buildings and at the whole microgrid. which includes two 4 MW Rolls-
[(Figure_5)TD$IG]
campus level enable on-site
generation, and maintain loads
within the available power. To
accomplish this integrated task of
enabling source and controlling
demand, the project called for
development of a master
controller that would receive
information on the status of the
campus distribution and make
decisions to meet as many critical
loads as possible. Figure 4
provides an overview of the
control tasks performed by the
master controller at IIT. The
master controller applies a
hierarchical control via SCADA to
ensure reliable and economic
operations of the IIT microgrid. It
also coordinates the operation of
HRDS controllers, on-site
generation, storage, and Figure 5: IIT Wind Unit

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 [(Figure_6)TD$IG]

Royce gas turbines. An 8 kW

Viryd wind turbine is installed on
the north side of the campus at the
Stuart soccer field (Figure 5).
Some 160 kW of PV cells are
installed on three building
rooftops to supply portions of
campus load (Figure 6). The
current plan is to increase on-site
solar generation to about 1.3 MW.
A 500 kWh ZBB storage unit is Figure 6: Solar Unit
[(Figure_7)TD$IG]
installed on campus for enhancing
the campus reliability and
economics (Figure 7). Moreover,
several electric vehicle charging
stations, powered by solar energy,
are deployed on campus; they
utilize energy from the microgrid
storage and provide green energy
for on-campus electric vehicles
(Figure 8).

T hese systems provided

demand management
options and increased human
Figure 7: Storage Unit

interaction with the grid services. campus operators can input relay the real-time usage
desired performance parameters information to the master
C. Efficiency and establish load priorities that controller, as opposed to
the master controller will then use standard meters that convey
An increased awareness of to make decisions to keep the usage only after the fact. The
campus electricity needs, coupled campus load under the desired Siemens building controllers and
with increased control over loads, profile. The IIT microgrid is the smart feeders with real-time
would give the operations and equipped with 12-phase monitoring and control systems
maintenance staff and end users measurement units (PMUs) that can respond to higher electricity
more information, which would [(Figure_8)TD$IG]
lead to more effective use of the
electricity. In real time, the
university would need to avoid
load increases that would push
the campus beyond the capacity
of the current substations and
require IIT to build another
substation. Figure 4 shows that
the campus is equipped with a
three-level hierarchical control
for managing the load at normal
and emergency conditions. IIT Figure 8: Charging Station

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 [(Figure_9)TD$IG]

usage at peak hours by disabling

and shifting low-priority loads,
increasing the tolerance on
comfort standards, or
communicating with microgrid
occupants to change behaviors.
The IIT microgrid
implementation includes a
Zigbee wireless control and
monitoring system at the device
level to demonstrate rapid load Figure 9: Operator Training Room
management. In addition, IIT [(Figure_10)TD$IG]
would deploy its on-site
generation to avoid peak prices
and decrease the overall cost of
electricity to the institution.
Without the deployment of its on-
site generation, the university
might never meet the financial
challenge of a microgrid
operation.

III. Microgrid Education Figure 10: Tabletop Model of IIT Microgrid

and Training

The entire IIT campus is Galvin Center has been very Grid education and research
regarded as a living laboratory for proactive in soliciting external laboratories on the 16th floor of the
Smart Grid education and funds for the procurement and IIT Tower and in Siegel Hall.
training. The microgrid the installation of intelligent Figure 9 depicts one of the Power
installation at IIT includes a devices at IIT, and will continue System Operator Training rooms
digital-based metering system, a its mission of raising funds for at the Galvin Center. Figure 10
monitoring system based on training and education of the next shows the tabletop model of the
PMUs, HRDS switches, campus generation of the Smart Grid campus that is in use at the Galvin
master controller, gas-fired power workforce. The Galvin Center, at Center for demonstrating the
plant, solar and storage units, www.galvinc enter.org, with benefits of applying the reliability
wind generating unit, charging Department of Energy support, loops to the IIT microgrid.
stations for electric vehicles, and has established a microgrid Figure 11 shows a wind unit
building control system serviced training center which prepares training facility at IIT, with an
by Siemens. The benefits of the workforce and the next experimental wind unit that is
microgrid implementation at IIT generation of professionals that identical to the wind unit installed
hinge on the ability of the Office of will build and maintain at the IIT soccer field. The
Facilities Maintenance microgrids in the United States. laboratory unit is equipped with a
Management to use the new tools
and establish procedures for
preventative maintenance. The
I n addition, the Galvin Center
has set up several microgrid
demonstration rooms and Smart
flywheel, which simulates the
variable wind speed for
generating the electricity in the

26 1040-6190/$–see front matter # 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved., http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2012.09.015 The Electricity Journal
 [(Figure_1)TD$IG]
Figure 11: Laboratory Wind Unit
[(Figure_12)TD$IG]
Figure 12: Wind Unit Data
laboratory. Figure 12 shows a set
of wind data collected from the
unit installed at the IIT soccer field.
Students will be able to examine
different components of a wind
unit in the laboratory and compare
the laboratory test results with
those collected at the field level.
IV. Remaining
Challenges
The objectives of the microgrid
project hinge on two main pillars:
improved energy efficiency
(increased flexibility in the
deployment and management of
load) and decreasing the effort
needed to enable local generation
October 2012, Vol. 25, Issue 8 1040-6190/$–see front matter # 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved., http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2012.09.015
(for operating the campus in
island mode with no active utility
feed). The PMUs and real-time
monitoring will provide the
necessary data to improve the
building operations, as the
campus needs a system that can
respond appropriately to keep
operations within established
efficiency parameters. In
addition, IIT will continue both
the breadth and the depth of
deployment of control systems at
all campus levels for enhancing its
energy management.
T he Galvin Center and its
partners must proactively
work with IIT staff to ensure that
all equipment, systems, tools, and
interfaces work properly and that
staff can operate the tools and
system elements without aid of
outside contractors. That does not
mean that service efforts or
repairs will not still require a
contractor, but the day-to-day
management should not require
outside engagement. To this end,
Facilities will need help from
Galvin Center to identify best
practices for staffing and
maintaining the systems, so that
IIT can maintain a properly sized
and trained workforce capable of
bringing the campus well into this
century. In addition, the
university must make available to
the whole community the
information obtained from the
microgrid.
V. Summary and
Conclusions
All research-based projects
encounter difficulties, which
often do not reflect a lack of
understanding of the value such
projects can bring a university.
Instead, they serve as lessons in
future planning and
implementation of research-based
projects in campus environments.
The microgrid project solidified a
way of thinking on campus that
sets IIT apart from other
institutions – a way of thinking
that will remain a hallmark of the
university for years to come. IIT
has opened the campus as a living
laboratory – not just for research
but for the implementation of
ideas coming from students,
faculty, and staff. Since launching
the microgrid in 2008, IIT has
27
 partnered with Cook County to
implement a student-generated
composting process on campus, a
group of students has developed
a utility management model that
promotes energy efficiency and
serves as an inspiration for the
present model of organization for
that department, and the Master’s
in Landscape Architecture
program has lead a cross-
curricular process to build and
manage an urban farm on
campus. Bursting forth from this
simple idea to improve the
reliability of the campus
electricity infrastructure comes a
freight train seeking to make
rapid and lasting change in the
way students, faculty, and staff
members relate to this campus
where they study, work, and
play. Beyond the research
dollars received and the
awards won, the change in the
campus environment and the
creation of a true living lab
stand as the strongest benefits
of implementing a microgrid
at IIT.&

IIT has opened the campus as a living laboratory – not just for research but for the implementation
of ideas coming from students, faculty, and staff.

28 1040-6190/$–see front matter # 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved., http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2012.09.015 The Electricity Journal