SEPA Announces Winners of 2018 Power Players Awards

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) has announced the winners of its 2018 SEPA Power Players Awards. Winners in the seven award categories will be honored July 10 as part of SEPA’s Grid Evolution Summit in Washington, D.C. Dusty Baker, former Washington Nationals manager turned energy entrepreneur, will keynote the Power Players Awards Dinner.

Now in their tenth year, the awards recognize utilities, their industry partners, individuals and other stakeholders working on the front lines of the U.S. energy transformation. In particular, the SEPA Power Players Awards focus on projects, initiatives and thought leadership that promote collaborative, innovative and replicable models for change. These industry leaders significantly advance knowledge of or access to distributed energy resources with solutions that benefit electricity consumers and the grid.

The 2018 SEPA Power Players are:

• Power Player of the Year: Alice Jackson, President of Xcel Energy – Colorado
• Electric Cooperative Utility of the Year: Poudre Valley REA
• Public Power Utility of the Year: Austin Energy
• Investor-Owned Utility of the Year: Hawaiian Electric Companies
• Innovative Partner of the Year: Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company
• Change Agent of the Year: Nest
• Visionary of the Year: Walter W. Haase, General Manager of the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority

“The Power Players Awards underline the fact that the transition in our industry is no longer a disruptive element but an integral and unstoppable force, driven not only by technology, but by growing consumer and business demand for clean energy,” said SEPA President and CEO Julia Hamm. “The stories these winners have to tell often fly under the media radar. But they are creating programs and initiatives that will ensure a reliable, affordable and resilient power system benefiting customers, the grid and the economic development of their communities.”

This year’s winners were chosen from a broad field of nominees and recently announced finalists. The panel of six independent judges who made the final choices represent diverse sectors and expertise in the electric power industry, and include:

• Cris Eugster, Chief Operating Officer, CPS Energy
• Mark Cayce, General Manager, Ouachita Electric Cooperative Corporation
• Paula Mints, Chief Market Research Analyst, SPV Market Research
• Polly Shaw, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Communications, Stem
• Tria Case, University Director of Sustainability, Sustainable CUNY
• Derek Kirchner, Principle Supervisor – Demand Side Management, DTE Energy

Brief profiles of the winners can be found here. To arrange an interview with one or more winners, contact:

K Kaufmann
Communications Manager
[email protected]
202.379.1637