OPG’s Gillian MacLeod protecting the environment and building relationships to advance hydro projects

These days, MacLeod has been busy at Matabitchuan GS to help plan for the 114-year-old station’s redevelopment. The project will involve building a new powerhouse and increasing the station’s capacity to approximately 11 megawatts (MW) from its current name plate capacity of 7.5 MW.

On the opposite side of the province, she is also helping to guide the redevelopment of the 118-year-old Kakabeka Falls GS.

In both these projects, she will help complete the necessary EAs before any construction can begin. This includes identifying any archaeological artifacts buried at the site that might be important to First Nations and identifying and mitigating any impacts to aquatic and terrestrial species and their habitats.

She will also help monitor construction execution to ensure environmental compliance and work to transition the newly redeveloped assets to OPG’s operations department.

Her fingerprints are evident on many of OPG’s past successful new builds and redevelopments – including the Calabogie GS redevelopment, Peter Sutherland Sr. GS new hydro project, and the Nanticoke Solar facility.

“I look at each of my projects as my children, and there’s real pride in seeing your work produce something tangible. It’s hard to pick a favourite.”

In each successive project, MacLeod strives to raise the bar, particularly in building positive relationships with Indigenous communities. Even before Canada’s doctrine of “Duty to Consult” was developed, she was including First Nations in her work, particularly around archaeological digs.

“We are always communicating and building relationships with First Nations, because at the end of the day, we’re in their home,” she said. “I try my best to build that personal connection with community leadership and the Elders, to incorporate their input and really listen to their challenges, concerns, and hopes.”

Her work fostering positive relationships, particularly on the Peter Sutherland Sr. and Nanticoke Solar projects, has led to mutually beneficial partnerships that continue to directly benefit First Nations.

This dedication was recently recognized with the 2024 R.R. Dodokin Award from the Ontario Waterpower Association. The annual award recognizes the outstanding contribution of an individual to the advancement of waterpower in Ontario.

Flanked by her two sons, MacLeod received the award at the 2024 Power of Water Canada Conference in Niagara Falls.

“I have been very lucky in my career to have had so many great people around me, so many supportive managers,” she said. “I think what it boils down to is this: You have to love what you do. If you don’t, it becomes work, and then you’re unhappy.”

She adds another piece of advice for younger people, including her kids: “Give me a hundred reasons you can’t do something, but show me one reason you can, and off you go and do it.”

It’s this positive thinking that has continued to drive her to do her best at work and helped her get through some personal challenges in recent years. This included a bout with cancer and a diagnosis of idiopathic anaphylaxis – a rare allergic disorder in which anaphylaxis reaction can be triggered by an unknown cause.

In her darkest days, MacLeod said hydro and her work colleagues helped save her.

It was while working with the Taykwa Tagamou Nation on the 28 MW Peter Sutherland Sr. GS project, which went into service in 2017, that she found the motivation to keep powering through.

“The project and the community gave me a reason to wake up in the morning and it’s why it holds such a special place in my heart,” MacLeod said.

Today, as she looks back on her long career, MacLeod says she will keep at it as long as she can.

In addition to helping revitalize Ontario’s time-tested hydro stations, she is helping to build important relationships in the province’s north that could potentially lead to new hydro developments in the future.

“To meet the demands of electrification and climate change, we know we will need a lot more electricity,” she said. “So, we must continue to maximize what we already have and keep them going, while looking into opportunities for new nuclear, new hydro, and other renewables. It’s a great time to be at OPG, working, and looking ahead.”