When Hurricane Fran hit the Wilmington area in 1996, Paul Dent lost power at his home. The event started the path to eventually work with Stephen Burnett and others at Koolbridge Energy on an energy management system for homes to better switch between power sources on both good and bad weather days.

“The Smart Load Center (SLC) is a very intelligent residential energy management system,” Burnett, chairman of locally based Koolbridge Energy, said about the company’s product. “It has a microcontroller inside of the panel box with embedded algorithms and artificial intelligence. The SLC has the unique and patented capability of capturing two incoming sources of energy and distributing that energy simultaneously on a circuit-by-circuit basis. It will always make the best decisions for the users, automatically, that will help lower costs and improve everyday comfort based on certain factors like weather conditions and/or battery status. It will always select the most cost-effective energy source.”

Koolbridge recently took home the honor of Coastal Entrepreneur of the Year. The top award was part of the Greater Wilmington Business Journal’s and the University of North Carolina Wilmington Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s annual CEA awards.

Burnett talks about Koolbridge’s growth in this recent Q&A. To read more from the interview, go to WilmingtonBizMagazine.com.
 

How did you and co-founder and chief scientist Paul Dent go from an idea after a power outage in Hurricane Fran to decide to pursue a product?

“Dr. Dent is a Ph.d. electrical engineer. He is also a prolific inventor with almost 400 U.S. patents in his name. When his power went out for 11 days after Hurricane Fran, he knew that there had to be a better solution, probably an electrical solution. He knew that the electrical panel box was the central nervous system of a home and that it had not changed much at all over the last 100 years. He thought of a way that could probably improve it and that would also fit well with the renewable energy trend. … I knew that Paul was one of the most prolific inventors in the world for wireless/cellular technology and met with him to see if he might want to help me patent a mobile phone app idea that I had. He was very interested in my mobile app idea, and agreed to help, but he said, ‘Stephen, I just retired from Ericsson and have filed two patent applications around some novel solar technology. Would you like to help me build a business around them?’ It was a good time for me, so I said, ‘Yes!’”
 

What is the current market for it and what do you see for its future growth?

“The current market for the Smart Load Center is solar installation and distribution companies, as well as new homebuilders and utilities. I can envision the Smart Load Center being in at least 1 million homes across the U.S., with or without solar panels, in our future growth. That would be less than 1% market penetration since there are over 140 million homes in the U.S.”
 

How has the company changed over the years?  

“The company has changed mostly with the product itself and with our patent portfolio. We now have 35 U.S. granted patents that cover inventions such as the Smart Load Center, but also a transformerless, pure sine-wave, 99% efficient inverter and smart addressable electrical power outlets.

Initially we had a 100-amp, 16-circuit, 20-amp max per circuit breaker panel box with four fuses, but only eight of the circuits could switch from utility to a renewable energy source using the patented second bus bar. It was a very limited product. … We were able to take that product from a working prototype to what is today a commercially viable, much more robust product with the help of Dave Sturdy and The Sturdy Corporation right here in Wilmington.  

I met with Dave Sturdy and The Sturdy Corporation almost three years ago now, even though I’ve known him for over 50 years. We met at UNCW when we were both students there. Dave and his team of expert engineers have taken the Smart Load Center and dissected it layer by layer by layer and rebuilt it. They have taken it from a 100-amp panel box with limited capabilities to two products: a 125-amp and 200-amp load centers that both have up to 60-amp circuit breaker capability anywhere in the panel box. Also, all 16 circuits can switch simultaneously in the 125-amp box and all 32 circuits can switch simultaneously between two or more sources of energy in the 200-amp box.”
 

Are there solar energy trends that have or are now a factor in Koolbridge’s focus?

“In the past, most solar installation companies installed only solar panels with no battery backup. Hurricanes are now becoming more intense and knocking out power, plus ice storms are becoming worse.  

A large percentage of homeowners cannot use their solar power by law when there is a utility outage, since the solar power is fed back to the grid and utility workers could get electrocuted. Many solar installation companies are now offering solar panels with battery backup like the Tesla Powerwall. Our Smart Load Center works very well in this scenario, and the trend is moving in the backup power direction. Utilities also like the feature of adding backup power and giving them the ability to control and use that backup power when they need it. Our Smart Load Centers can give the utilities access and the ability to control the backup power with the homeowner’s permission.”
 

What do you see ahead for the company?

“I envision utilities, solar installation and distribution companies and new homebuilders becoming more and more interested in our Smart Load Center being used with battery backup. The utility grid is becoming older and older, and it’s not able to manage power as well as it used to. The grid is under intense stress due to the emergence of data centers (AI) and EV charging. Homes are becoming smarter. Managing EV chargers and other new residential products is becoming more difficult. Power outages are becoming more of the norm with major hurricanes and ice storms. There is a problem with managing a home’s energy in the smartest way possible and we help with that solution.  

I also can envision some type of exit event for our shareholders. We have looked at different options over the past several years but haven’t narrowed anything down yet. Whatever we do, though, we will do our best to make sure that it is in the best interests of our shareholders.”