EEI selects eight electric companies as finalists for 2021 Edison Award

Honoring innovations and contributions to the electric power industry, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) announced eight finalists for its annual Edison Award, including five American companies.

“EEI’s member companies are committed to investing in and leading the transition to a clean energy future,” Tom Kuhn, EEI president, said. “The companies selected as finalists for the Edison Award have demonstrated exemplary leadership in the research, development, and deployment of new technologies and projects that allow them to deliver clean, reliable, and affordable energy to the customers and the communities they serve. They all are very deserving of this recognition.”

This is the 93rd Edison Award, an honor selected by a panel of former electric company chief executives. This year’s selection, which includes The AES Corporation, Edison International/Southern California Edison, Liberty Utilities, Minnesota Power, and Xcel Energy domestically, and The AES Corporation, ATCO, and J-POWER for the international award, were all selected by an independent panel of reviewers that met virtually.

Each earned their place for different projects. In the case of AES, it was nominated on the U.S. side for its 400 MW Alamitos Battery Energy Storage System in California. On the international side, AES was recognized for work on the Cordillera Hydro Complex, a Chile-based facility that was expanded last year through the world’s first virtual reservoir, the Alto Maipo Project, making it the largest renewable energy project in Chile.

Domestically, other recognitions included Edison International/Southern California Edison for the release of nearly $2 billion in funding to support electric vehicle adoption and installation of more than 50,000 charging ports in California. Another California project earned a nod for Liberty Utilities, which deployed a standalone microgrid at UC Berkeley’s Sagehen Creek Field Station to maintain resilient clean energy without resource-intensive hardening in an environmentally sensitive, wildfire-prone zone. Minnesota Power was chosen for the Great Northern Transmission Line, which integrated U.S. wind power and Canadian hydropower. Closing out the pack was Xcel Energy, with forward steps on a U.S. Department of Energy-supported pilot hydrogen plant.

On the international front, other contenders include ATCO, for completion of Canada’s largest off-grid solar and storage microgrid: the Fort Chipewyan Off-Grid Solar and Storage Project. It supplies the Northern Alberta community with clean energy and cuts the need for diesel. J-Power was also honored for the second step of the Osaki CoolGen project, which demonstrated the capabilities of oxygen-blown integrated coal gasification combined cycle with CO2 capture.