Silverstein named senior vice president BPA Transmission Services

Portland, Ore. - Brian Silverstein has been named BPA’s senior vice president for Transmission Services.  Silverstein has served as acting senior vice president for Transmission Services since April of this year. 

BPA Chief Operating Anita Decker announced Silverstein’s selection today.  In acknowledging the selection, BPA Administrator Steve Wright said, “We conducted a national search and tested this selection with customers, stakeholders and employees.  Brian is held in very high regard in all quarters.  His understanding of the bulk power grid and his vision for how the grid is likely to change through time made him the superior candidate.  I expect Brian will be a great leader of the transmission organization.”

As senior vice president of Transmission Services, Silverstein will oversee the day-to-day operation of about 75 percent of the Northwest region’s transmission grid.  He also will supervise the most aggressive expansion of BPA’s transmission grid since the 1970s, as well as BPA’s operational solutions that will be at the forefront of the rapid expansion of wind energy interconnected to BPA’s transmission system.

Silverstein joined BPA in 1979, holding a variety of positions, including executive stints as vice president for Transmission Marketing and Sales and vice president for Planning and Asset Management.  In May 2009, he was elected to the Western Electricity Coordinating Council Board of Directors.  WECC coordinates and promotes electric system reliability in the Western United States.

Decker expanded on Silverstein’s experience and selection, “He stepped in as acting senior vice president for Transmission Services, and the organization did not miss a beat.  He has seen and managed many changes to high-voltage transmission system operation.  He is uniquely suited to lead Transmission Services into an exciting new era for the energy sector.”

Silverstein is a Registered Professional Engineer in Oregon and has a Master of Engineering in electric power from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an electrical engineering degree from The Cooper Union for Advancement of Science and Art.

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 U.S. 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 2,200 megawatts of wind interconnected to its transmission system.

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