DOE Names Tracey LeBeau WAPA Administrator, CEO

The Department of Energy has named Tracey LeBeau administrator and CEO of Western Area Power Administration, effective Aug. 29.

As one of DOE’s four power marketing administrations, WAPA is responsible for marketing and transmitting wholesale electricity from multi-use water projects across 15 states in the central and western United States.

WAPA markets an average of 25,000 gigawatt-hours of carbon-free hydropower from 57 hydroelectric dams, DOE said.

The organization delivers energy to cities, towns, rural electric cooperatives, irrigation districts, Native American tribes and federal and state agencies.

LeBeau has been a member of WAPA’s senior executive team for more than seven years and had served as interim administrator since March.

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said WAPA delivered low-cost hydropower to nearly 700 customers under LeBeau’s leadership as interim administrator.

“I look forward to her steady leadership and dedication on team DOE as we work to deliver more clean energy options to Americans across the country while tackling the climate crisis head on,” Granholm added.

DOE said LeBeau has more than 20 years of experience in management, clean energy and infrastructure development, public-private partnerships, utility business operations and federal program leadership and policy.

LeBeau joined WAPA in 2014 as Transmission Infrastructure Program manager, a role that oversaw the organization’s $3.25 billion borrowing authority.

As a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, she will be the first woman and first Native American to lead WAPA, DOE said.