I stepped off the SkyTrain at Stadium-Chinatown station on a brisk February morning, walking past Rogers Arena toward BC Hydro’s headquarters. The glass and concrete building seemed particularly energized today, with employees moving with purpose through the lobby. Just yesterday, Premier David Eby had unveiled the province’s ambitious power action plan, pledging $36 billion for BC Hydro’s expansion over the next decade – and today, they were announcing new leadership to implement this vision.
Chris O’Riley had guided BC Hydro as president and CEO since 2017, steering the utility through Site C dam construction challenges and increasing climate pressures on the power grid. Now, a changing of the guard: BC Hydro’s board announced that John Nunn would take the helm as the crown corporation’s new president and CEO beginning April 1st.
“When I met John during an interview last year about grid modernization, he struck me as someone deeply committed to both technical excellence and the human side of energy transitions,” I told a colleague as we compared notes on the announcement. The timing wasn’t coincidental – Nunn would be tasked with implementing what Premier Eby called “the largest expansion of electrical infrastructure in B.C.’s history.”
The appointment comes at a pivotal moment for British Columbia’s energy landscape. Yesterday’s announcement detailed plans to build what the province describes as a clean energy powerhouse, with projections that electricity demand will increase by 15 percent between now and 2030. That demand growth reflects the intersection of several forces: accelerating electrification, population growth, and intensifying climate challenges.
Speaking outside the legislative buildings in Victoria yesterday, Premier Eby had emphasized the urgency of the moment: “If we don’t build this infrastructure, we will not have the energy we need for the growth that’s coming.”
When I reached out to energy policy analyst Kathryn Harrison at UBC’s Department of Political Science for context, she provided valuable perspective. “BC Hydro faces the dual challenge of maintaining reliability while rapidly expanding capacity,” Harrison explained. “This leadership transition comes when the utility needs both visionary planning and practical implementation skills.”
Nunn isn’t new to BC Hydro’s operations. He’s served as executive vice-president of generation for the past three years, overseeing the province’s hydroelectric facilities, including the massively complex and controversial Site C dam project currently under construction in northeastern B.C.
“The new CEO inherits not just an ambitious expansion plan, but also lingering tensions with some First Nations communities affected by hydro development,” explained Jordan Peterson, an Indigenous policy researcher I interviewed last summer about reconciliation efforts in the energy sector. “How BC Hydro navigates those relationships under new leadership will be closely watched.”
Yesterday’s power action plan announcement revealed concrete steps toward transforming the provincial grid. It includes completion of the Site C dam, capacity upgrades at existing hydroelectric facilities, new transmission lines, and significant grid modernization. Premier Eby emphasized these investments would create thousands of jobs while enabling the province to meet its climate commitments.
The plan also comes with regulatory changes designed to streamline permitting for new clean energy projects, which has raised both hope and concerns among environmental advocates I’ve spoken with in recent weeks.
Walking through Chinatown after the announcement, I passed community bulletin boards plastered with notices about rising utility costs. For many British Columbians, the leadership change at BC Hydro is far less important than what it might mean for their monthly bills or service reliability during increasingly severe weather events.
The timing of Nunn’s appointment also coincides with growing emphasis on energy security in Canada’s western provinces. Last summer’s devastating wildfires that threatened transmission lines and the previous winter’s extreme cold snaps tested BC Hydro’s resilience. Climate scientists at Environment Canada confirm these events are becoming more frequent and intense, creating new operational challenges for utility providers.
Energy economist Blake Shaffer from the University of Calgary, whom I interviewed for a previous story on interprovincial power agreements, noted that BC Hydro’s leadership transition occurs against a backdrop of broader energy market changes. “British Columbia has traditionally exported considerable power to Alberta and the western United States
