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BPA's Delwiche Moves from Environment, Fish and Wildlife to VP for Power Services by Staff Columbia Basin Bulletin, June 4, 2010

The Bonneville Power Administration announced this week that Greg Delwiche will become its new senior vice president for Power Services.

Delwiche has served since October 2004 as BPA's vice president for Environment, Fish and Wildlife and will take over his new position during the week of June 25 from Paul Norman, who retired last year.

"Greg's depth of experience and high integrity make him well suited to lead Power Services," said BPA Administrator Steve Wright. "In his current position, he has demonstrated great ability to bring together individuals and groups with strongly held diverging views to reach mutually acceptable solutions. The Columbia Basin Fish Accords are an outstanding example. His negotiation skills are balanced with a thorough understanding of power operations from his previous positions at BPA."

Delwiche's replacement as head of Environment, Fish and Wildlife will likely be announced late this week or early next week, according to BPA spokesman Michael Milstein.

Delwiche came to BPA in 1992 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and became BPA's vice president of Generation Asset Management in 1999. His new position at BPA oversees the agencies power operations, including generation, bulk marketing and power rates issues.

"I look forward to rejoining Power Services' leadership team," Delwiche said. "It is an exciting time for our industry as fundamental changes are likely to occur with an emphasis on new energy production using climate-friendly power resources. We are also facing changes in how we use electricity, given aggressive energy efficiency goals and potential technological innovations such as with electrical transportation and energy storage.

"We are fortunate in the Northwest to have a largely carbon-neutral energy resource base with the hydro system and Columbia Generating Station, but our current system by itself will not be sufficient for the region's growing energy needs," Delwiche said.

As vice president for Environment, Fish and Wildlife, Delwiche oversaw BPA's responsibilities under the Endangered Species Act and the Northwest Power Act. His group also ensures that BPA complies with environmental regulations and minimizes environmental risks from operating and maintaining high-voltage transmission lines.

Delwiche holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in civil engineering from the University of Florida and Oregon State University respectively.

He lives in (and commutes by bicycle from) northeast Portland. He and his wife have two daughters, one in college and one soon to be.

BPA is a not-for-profit federal electric utility that operates a high-voltage transmission grid comprising more than 15,000 miles of lines and associated substations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

It also markets more than a third of the electricity consumed in the Pacific Northwest. The power is produced at 31 federal dams operated by the Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation and one nuclear plant in the Northwest and is sold to more than 140 Northwest utilities. BPA purchases power from seven wind projects and has more than 2,800 megawatts of wind interconnected to its transmission system.