Northwestern University and Exelon Establish Partnership for Clean Energy Innovation
Multi-year program to accelerate bringing new technologies from lab
to market
Northwestern University, its Institute for Sustainability and Energy at
Northwestern (ISEN), and Exelon Corporation announced today the
formation of a five-year strategic research partnership focused on clean
energy innovation.
“We couldn’t be more excited about this important alliance,” said
Michael R. Wasielewski, ISEN’s executive director. “Scaling basic
discovery energy science for systems-level innovation is a tremendous
bottleneck for academia and industry alike. Leading energy companies at
the cutting-edge of our electric power grid, like Exelon, are ideal
partners for Northwestern and its entire research enterprise.”
The Northwestern-Exelon Master Research Agreement will provide for an
initial five-year period of research around a robust project portfolio,
including grid management and resilience, energy storage and renewable
technologies.
“With the energy landscape evolving faster than ever, Exelon is building
relationships with top research centers to create an ecosystem for
advancing energy technology and ingenuity,” said Chris Crane, Exelon
president and CEO. “This partnership brings together Exelon’s industry
and market expertise with Northwestern’s deep research capabilities. It
is an important step in our work to uncover and bring to life the very
latest innovations that can benefit our company, our customers and the
communities we serve.”
The partnership is designed to streamline the process for evaluating,
testing and scaling scientific discoveries made in Northwestern labs for
commercial use. Discoveries in research could have immediate and
tangible implications on the way energy is produced, transmitted and
consumed in the United States.
“Future sustainability and energy solutions lay at the intersection of
science, policy and economics,” said Jay Walsh, vice president for
research at Northwestern. “ISEN is ideally positioned to lead
Northwestern’s interdisciplinary commitment to these global challenges.
This innovation-focused partnership with Exelon allows both
organizations to capitalize on the tremendous scope of opportunity that
exists as we transition to a 21st-century grid.”
Northwestern has several active “master” agreements in areas of
strategic importance for the University. The agreement with Exelon is
the first with an electric power company.
The Institute
for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN) advances
global energy and sustainability solutions through transformational
research, interdisciplinary education, and public engagement.
Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), now including the Pepco Holdings
utilities, is the nation’s leading competitive energy provider, with
2015 revenues of approximately $34.5 billion. Headquartered in Chicago,
Exelon does business in 48 states, the District of Columbia and Canada.
Exelon is one of the largest competitive U.S. power generators, with
more than 32,700 megawatts of owned capacity comprising one of the
nation’s cleanest and lowest-cost power generation fleets. The company’s
Constellation business unit provides energy products and services to
approximately 2 million residential, public sector and business
customers, including more than two-thirds of the Fortune 100. Exelon’s
six utilities deliver electricity and natural gas to approximately 10
million customers in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois,
Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania through its Atlantic City
Electric, BGE, ComEd, Delmarva Power, PECO and Pepco subsidiaries.
Follow Exelon on Twitter @Exelon.
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