Last year, solar energy was the nations fastest growing generation source in large part to utilities like Tucson Electric Power, said Julia Hamm, SEPA President and CEO. Through their first-of-a-kind community solar program to their storage and CSP initiatives, TEP has proven why it is deserving of the Investor Owned Utility of the Year title. Their innovation and strong portfolio should serve as a model for other IOUs on how to successfully embrace clean solar energy.
In 2011, TEP became the first investor owned utility in the nation to launch a true community solar program, Bright Tucson, helping to make solar energy available and affordable for their customers. Through their strong partnerships with the University of Arizona (UA) and the Arizona Research Institute for Solar Energy (AzRISE), TEP helped increase the use of solar energy at the UA Science and Technology Parks Solar Zone, where they also hope to make significant progress on solar storage solutions.
TEP was chosen as the winner from a field of 51investor owned utility SEPA members, and is joined by finalists Duke Energy and Hawaiian Electric Company.
