ABB, the global power and automation technology group, announced today that it has won a US$ 44 million turnkey order from Commonwealth Edison (ComEd), one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, to build a new substation to meet growing demand for power in downtown Chicago.

According to the terms of the agreement, ABB’s scope of supply includes conceptual design, civil engineering, equipment supply, installation and commissioning of the De Koven substation, which is scheduled for completion and start-up in May 2002.

Following outages in the summer of 1999, ABB engineers used advanced grid modelling and simulation techniques to help ComEd design a network capable of re-routing power around any disturbances that might occur in the grid. This included the fast-track provision of one new substation and major expansions at four others.