After feds pull plug on approved grant, Naperville left to cover full cost of $2.25M electric project

The money earmarked for Naperville was to help pay for a major system upgrade to help the manage electricity outages and ensure grid reliability.

Naperville was notified of the cancellation on Oct. 2, after the city had been awarded the grant and fully negotiated terms with the department in August 2024, according to Brian Groth, the city’s electric utility director.

“This is something that the electric utility needs to do,” Groth said at the Naperville City Council meeting last week when asked whether the city should move forward without the funding. “Our system is old and realistically it seems like there may be a predetermined outcome or whatnot, so I think that moving forward with this, it’s the right time to get this done.”

The upgrade is for multiple systems in the city’s electric utility. The first is for the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, which is used by the utility’s system controllers to remotely operate substation and field equipment, Groth said. SCADA enhances grid visibility for the electric utility, reduces outage durations and improves operational efficiency in Naperville, according to the city memo. The city’s current version of SCADA will become obsolete in 2028.

Naperville’s Outage Management System, which helps system controllers better manage electrical outages in the city, also is being upgraded, and Naperville plans to deploy one additional systemto allow the utility to better “manage generation resources, storage resources and load within the city,” Groth said.

When the project is finished, there will be improved “remote operation of utility equipment and dispatching of utility crews” as well as improved communication “between departments as to the status of outages,” he said. Naperville residents will benefit from the “integration of distributed energy resources … to make a more resilient electrical grid,” he said.

Even with the loss of funding, the city still “has the financial means to complete this project without the grant,” Naperville Finance Director Ray Munch said.

“Grants typically serve as a supplemental funding source and are not the sole determining factor in whether a project is financially feasible,” Munch said, noting that the city assesses those risks “at the outset of any grant funding project to determine if it is financially feasible with or without supplemental funding.”

As a result of the grant loss, it is likely that other capital improvement projects will need to be deferred, Munch said. It is currently unknown which projects will be affected, city spokeswoman Linda LaCloche said.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/09/naperville-grant-funding-federal-canceled-cut/