Goats have supported ComEd crews this summer by clearing grass and brush under power lines to support sustainable, reliable energy

After two weeks of clearing seven acres of hard-to-reach brush under power lines in Matthiessen State Park in LaSalle County, Ill., ComEd’s four-legged employees are taking a Windy City Goat Tour to explore Chicago. Nearly a dozen goats will be driven around the goat-to spots in the city, while increasing awareness around ComEd’s goat vegetation management program—one of many programs which enables the utility to run one of the most reliable and resilient power grids in the country.

“We are so excited to have the goats join us for a day on the town to celebrate their hard work clearing vegetation around power lines,” said Michelle Blaise, Senior Vice President of Technical Services at ComEd. “This event highlights one of the many innovative and sustainable ways ComEd works to avoid outages and provide continued reliability to families and businesses across northern Illinois.”

The goats will take a driving tour of Chicago on an all-electric ComEd truck with members of the ComEd team between 11 and 3pm with 30-minute stops at Pioneer Court beginning at 11:30, 12:30, 1:30 and 2:30 on Tuesday, August 29. All members of the public are invited to meet the goats at Pioneer Court while learning more about ComEd’s efforts to improve grid reliability and resiliency in our region.

Since 2019, over 200 goats have supported ComEd in clearing vegetation in places that are difficult for human crews to access and safely address in northern Illinois. The goats play a critical role in helping ComEd avoid outages and service disruptions due to overgrown vegetation near power lines. This is the second year the goats have supported vegetation management in Matthiessen State Park, with plans to return in 2024.

Among its benefits, the program drives maximum efficiency of this work, cutting the cost and time needed to clear the area by more than half, while also reducing safety risks for workers and air emissions from fuel-burning equipment.

To learn more about the goats, visit ComEd.com/Goats.

ComEd is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ: EXC), a Fortune 250 energy company with approximately 10 million electricity and natural gas customers – the largest number of customers in the U.S. ComEd powers the lives of more than 4 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population. For more information visit ComEd.com, and connect with the company on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

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