Biography – Paul Schwabe

Paul Schwabe

Senior Vice President and Transmission Infrastructure Program Manager
Western Area Power Administration

Paul Schwabe leads the Western Area Power Administration $3.25 billion Transmission Infrastructure Program. TIP is a statutory revolving loan program, funding projects that enable reliable and affordable power generated by clean energy resources.

Schwabe came to WAPA in March 2022 from National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where he served as business manager for the Innovation, Partnering and Outreach Office and partnered with diverse utilities across the country to develop and launch clean energy generation enterprises. While at NREL, Schwabe collaborated on a $100 million research portfolio to design, deliver and mitigate the financial and execution risks of projects.

Prior to NREL, Schwabe gained expertise on both coasts. He served as senior analyst at Consolidated Edison in New York City and financial researcher at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Over the course of 20 years working in the nexus of both finance and energy, Schwabe developed standardized generation contracts, analyzed the business case for solar energy in rural Alaska villages and surveyed economics of energy storage and transmission solutions through the nation.

Schwabe holds a master’s degree in applied economics and finance from the University of California in Santa Cruz, where he also earned a bachelor’s degree in economics.