SunCast 722: A 100-Year Vision for a new kind of Energy Company with Cherry Street’s Michael Chanin
What does it take to build a 100-year business? How does one expand beyond integration of off-the-shelf products to branding power plants as a unique identifiable product? What does it take to secure an entire City’s rooftops…like Atlanta?
Michael Chanin, the CEO and founder of Cherry Street Energy, is bringing this ambitious vision to fruition. Chanin's team is embracing the power of renewables for transforming our infrastructure, and my meeting with him left me inspired. Chanin is not your typical investment-banker-turned-renewable-energy-entrepreneur. How this Macon, GA native found his way to banking is in itself an unlikely turn in his career. So, when he decided to leave Wall Street for Main Street, it was in many ways a return to his roots as a social anthropologist and activist at heart.
Chanin found his calling in the clean energy sector through his banking work with early financial pioneers like Vivint who were leveraging public markets to bring solar to neighborhoods around the country. But, he saw a gap (Opportunity) beyond the residential solar revolution in how these products (power plants) could benefit municipalities, universities, and communities writ large. What he built as a delivery mechanism, Cherry Street Energy, has quickly become Georgia’s foremost non-utility provider of renewable power! And, with over 1000 projects in the queue, Michael and the Cherry Street team are just getting started.
In this episode, discover:
- Cherry Street Energy’s unique approach to finance and deploy distributed energy resources.
- Culture, collaboration, kindness, and a long-term vision as essential ingredients to success.
- How Warren Buffett changed Michael’s career prospects
- Their Shine On program for workforce development “from blue collar to new collar”
- The operational fabric supporting Cherry Street Energy's progress.
Hit play to learn how Cherry Street Energy is paving the way for a sustainable, low-carbon future.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to his contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://mysuncast.com/suncast-episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
SunCast is proudly supported by Trina Solar.
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.mysuncast.com/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 730 other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com.
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus
Mentioned in this episode:
CPS July 2024 V2