In Illinois, rural co-ops see energy advantage with broadband

The smart grid is only as smart as an Internet connection is strong. As advanced meters, smart thermostats and other web-enabled energy devices spread across Illinois and beyond, so too does the need for reliable, broadband communications.  In cities and suburbs, there is enough infrastructure to make it a non-issue. But in rural communities outside Chicago and other cities, roughly 39 percent of residents lack access to high-speed Internet service, according to a study last year by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Of the 25 rural electric cooperatives in Illinois, five offer some form of broadband service, according to the Association of Illinois Electric cooperatives (AIEC). Collectively, they provide high-speed Internet – defined by the Federal Communications Commission as download speeds of 25 megabits per second and upload speeds of 3 megabits per second – to more than 7,000 customers.  For Illinois Electric cooperative, which serves some 14,000 members in western Illinois, broadband Internet has been decades in the making. In 1995, IEC first started offering dial-up services, and eventually moved to satellite Internet. In 2005, the co-op switched to fixed wireless broadband, installing towers on substations, water towers and other sites. Approximately 3,851 IEC customers across 10 counties are signed up for the service, according to the co-op’s latest tax records. Now, IEC is beginning to roll out broadband over fiber-optic cable to 1,200 premises in more populated communities. The primary motivation behind these projects is one of rural economic development, says Bruce Giffin, IEC’s general manager. The cooperative is spending millions of dollars to maintain hundreds of miles of distribution lines in counties where the population is declining, he says. Broadband service is seen as a necessary stave against this decline, and the smart-grid benefits are a welcome ancillary effect.