One quarter of the energy homeowners use is electric, and that’s predicted to double by 2050. Larry Bekkedahl, senior vice president of Portland General Electric, joins host Dave Whitehead to discuss how the push toward electrifying everything, from appliances to vehicles, combined with the rapid adoption of intermittent energy sources is challenging how utilities provide customers with a reliable flow of power. 

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Senior Vice President, Advanced Energy Delivery at Portland General Electric

Larry Bekkedahl oversees operational areas at Portland General Electric and is responsible for advancing its strategy to build the grid of the future — one that is resilient, smart, and delivers a clean energy future. 

He oversees PGE’s strategic system architecture and system upgrades, which will serve as the foundation for the smart grid of the future. This includes initiatives related to system integration and operations, smart cities, enabling distributed energy resources, energy storage, dispatchable standby generation, transmission system performance and market interfaces, as well as research and development. He is also responsible for oversight of PGE’s Utility Operations and Operations Services divisions. 

Bekkedahl joined PGE in 2014 as vice president of Transmission & Distribution. He has more than three decades of leadership experience in the energy industry. Before joining PGE, he was senior vice president for transmission services at the Bonneville Power Administration and held leadership positions at Clark Public Utilities, PacifiCorp and Montana Power Company. 

He has a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Montana State University and serves on the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Research Advisory Committee, the Stanford University Bits and Watts Advisory Council, the University of Akron Energy Advisory Committee, and the All Hands Raised board for Portland Public Schools Foundation. 

Larry Bekkedahl

The push toward electrifying everything, from appliances to vehicles, combined with the rapid adoption of intermittent energy sources is challenging how utilities provide customers with a reliable flow of power.

Meeting the Clean Energy Challenge: Ensuring Reliability Amid the Electrification of Everything