John Chillemi
John is currently Executive Vice President and President West Region at NRG Energy. He is responsible for the overall coordination, strategy, and governmental and regulatory affairs of all of NRG’s business interest in a region of 13 western states. A major part of that role is the oversight of NRG’s and NRG Yield’s regional conventional generating fleet in California and Nevada, totaling nearly 8,400 megawatts (MW) of capacity at 16 major locations. John also leads the business development efforts of NRG in the West Region. Recent successes include two large natural gas projects in Southern California — the 500 MW Carlsbad Energy Center and the 265 MW Puente project in Oxnard — along with over 200 MW of Preferred Resource and Storage contracts since 2014. He also coordinates with different NRG business units on their activities in California, including large-scale and home solar, wind generation, electric vehicle infrastructure and district heating and cooling.
John has 30 years of power industry experience, beginning with Georgia Power and assuming roles of increasing responsibilities with different companies. Prior to joining NRG, John served as the regional president in California and the West for GenOn and Mirant, two companies that previously owned some of NRG’s current assets.
John serves on the board of directors for the California Foundation for the Environment and the Economy, the California Council for Environment and Economic Balance, and the Independent Energy Producers Association. He has a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from Georgia State University.