The soon-to-be Smart Electric Power Alliance - but still the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) until April 11 -- has opened nominations for its annual Solar Power Players awards.

WASHINGTON, DC -- The soon-to-be Smart Electric Power Alliance - but still the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) until April 11 -- has opened nominations for its annual Solar Power Players awards. Despite its expanded mission and recently announced name change, SEPAs core focus continues to be utility integration and deployment of solar. As in years past, the award winners will be honored at a special event during Solar Power International (SPI) in September in Las Vegas. A high-profile media campaign is planned.

"Even as SEPA expands, its important to us and our members that we continue to demonstrate our commitment to recognizing the critical contributions utilities are making to solar growth, through their own programs and through solar industry partnerships," said Julia Hamm, SEPA President and CEO. "The Solar Power Players awards place a spotlight on the leaders in our industry -- individuals, utilities and their solar industry partners -- that are driving innovation with replicable models that can become catalysts for change. We are dedicated to continuing the tradition the awards have established."

Solar Power Player awards will be given in five categories:

1. Investor-owned utility of the year
2. Public or municipal utility of the year
3. Electric cooperative utility of the year
4. Innovative solar partner of the year
5. Individual Solar Champion

The submission deadline for the awards is Wednesday, May 4 at 5 pm EST; individual companies or people may nominate themselves. Eligibility information, nomination forms and profiles of the 2015 winners are available here.

"Receiving the Solar Champion award was such an honor for both myself and Tucson Electric," said Carmine Tilghman, SEPAs 2016 Solar Champion of the year and Senior Director - Energy Supply at Tucson Electric Power. "I am fortunate that I get to work with some of the most dedicated, professional, and forward-thinking individuals in the industry - both inside and outside of my company. To be singled out among those people is both gratifying and humbling. It truly is a reflection of those individuals and the incredible work they have done."

"We were honored when our industry colleagues nominated us for a SEPA Solar Power Player award for our part in bringing about distributed energy legislation," says John Frick, vice president for government relations at the Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina. "Our recognition as a winner focused attention on the importance of collaboration as the best way to meet the needs of our cooperative members and to position South Carolina to succeed within a new energy economy."

About SEPA
SEPA is an educational non-profit that enables the transition to a clean energy economy by facilitating utility integration and deployment of solar, demand response, other distributed energy resources, and supporting technologies onto the grid.

Contact Corinne St Laurent at cstlaurent@solarelectricpower.org or 202.753.8929 for additional information.