I just tried the openpyxl library and it works in Ignition 8.1.
Version 2.6.4 is the last one to support Python 2.7.
If anyone wants to try…
openpyxl-2.6.4.zip (1.1 MB)
Just copy everything in the .zip file into the C:\Program Files\Inductive Automation\Ignition\user-lib\pylib folder under Windows.