Experienced leaders with the vision to pioneer new business strategies and the capacity to see them realized.
Chief Executive Officer
Matt Cheney is today the CEO of CleanPath Ventures LLC, a next-generation company that manages capital-intensive late stage renewable energy project development and financing. He is visionary and thought leader in the world of renewable energy project development and finance, and has an exemplary track record of success. He has accomplished this by consistently developing winning business plans, raising capital, and employing and improving teams that succeed in a constantly changing world of renewable energy and technology. He is an engaging leader that has demonstrated his ability to pivot quickly in pursuit of evolving opportunities, optimizing value for his team and his investors as markets change.
15 Year Track Record
Including Founding Six Pioneering Global Renewable Energy Investment Platforms
Over the past 15 years, Mr. Cheney has both worked to expand established renewable energy firms and has built new companies from the ground up, including raising capital to finance expansion. He is skilled in the overall development and continuing refinement of business plans and strategies, and is equally skilled in the comprehensive implementation of those plans, including the scaling the business to meet the growth in the domestic and international markets for distributed renewable energy.
Select Accomplishments
• South America (Bolivia) – $50MM investment in rural electrification successfully deploying 5 emerging renewable energy technologies, including the first micro-grid system
• Diversified commercial scale portfolio developed for biomass, biogas and coal gasification technologies
• Wind highlights include 4 GW of wind projects developed, constructed, and operated globally, including breakthrough projects in Spain, China and India
• Introduced the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to the U.S. commercial and residential solar markets in 2000
• Developed over 2 GWs of solar energy assets in the U.S. – financed, owned, and operated over $300 MM by 2009, requiring the structuring of tax equity funds and placement of permanent debt
• Syndicated the first solar tax equity/debt fund in the U.S. (Nellis Airforce Base) – raised and managed 5 additional tax equity/debt funds over during the period of 2006 through 2009
• Executed the financing and development of 50+ utility and commercial scale solar projects over the last five years – including Nellis AFB (largest in the US until 2009).
• Syndicated a $200MM solar PV project development Fund in 2011, leading to the formation of a 220 MWs in PV Project SPVs and a 13 GW PV project pipeline – all sold to the Fund’s principal investor in 2013
• Commercialized over 20 non-commercial renewable energy technologies over a period of 15 years, beginning in 2000, leading up to 2015
• Founded and served on the boards of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA), the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) and Black Rock Solar, among others
Renewable Energy Investment Innovator
Mr. Cheney’s vision of market attributes and direction will provide a competitive advantage, setting the stage for productive strategic alliances, partnerships and joint ventures. He is experiences in both working closely and confidently with Boards and in raising capital for both enterprise and project purposes, and has a strong track record of doing so at considerable scale. He has a demonstrated ability to bring out the best in the teams with whom he is working, and that proven capacity to deepen those teams qualitatively, including in finance and accounting, which is central to managing the business platform, including reporting.
Mr. Cheney is a skilled public speaker and content expert on renewable energy and clean technology topics, including financing/securitization. He is also widely recognized as an innovator, including having financed the first solar PV “power purchase agreement” (PPA) behind the meter power plant for Green Mountain Energy in 2000, and having financed the largest and first utility-scale PV power plant in the world in 2007 at Nellis Airforce Base in Nevada (15 MW). He is involved in new programs promoting micro-grid solutions, community solar virtual net metering and commercialization strategies for new emerging technologies, including storage and the appropriate revenue policies required for the economic integration and transition.
Finally, Mr. Cheney’s network is a strength. He is currently sitting on the Executive Committee and Board of the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA), the Board of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), and the Board of Solar Energy Trade Shows (SETS) the sponsor of Solar Power International.