Koolbridge Solar and Sturdy Corporation Partner to Accelerate Residential Solar Market and Manufacture Patented Smart Home Energy Solution

WILMINGTON, N.C., March 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- 

• Partnership includes a signed Master Manufacturing Agreement (MMA) for Sturdy Corporation to manufacture Koolbridge Solar's Smart Load Center^™ (SLC).
• The Smart Load Center^™ is a patented, intelligent residential energy management system that automatically and seamlessly switches sources of power on a circuit by circuit basis.

Koolbridge Solar announced today that a Master Manufacturing Agreement has been signed with the Sturdy Corporation of Wilmington, NC to manufacture its first product, the Smart Load Center^™ for North America. The partnership anticipates continued significant growth in the United States residential solar and energy storage market. 

With Sturdy Corporation's 50+ years of manufacturing experience blended with Koolbridge Solar's patent protected smart residential energy management products under development, the synergy created between the two companies should help accelerate the solar market in the USA.

Introducing the Koolbridge Solar Smart Load Center^™

a. Automatically switches between utility and solar, solar and battery, utility and generator, etc. on a circuit by circuit basis based on time of day use, battery state, inverter output state, and weather factors to always provide the lowest cost electricity possible;
b. Uses embedded, proprietary, smart algorithms combined with a microcontroller to shed load and control peak demand automatically when necessary;
c. Allows the homeowner to automatically self-consume their solar power in a grid outage leaving critical load circuits alive.

With patent priority dates of May 8, 2011, the patent portfolio includes 30+ US granted patents and patent applications covering the Smart Load Center, a transformerless, pure sinewave, 99% efficient inverter, and smart addressable electrical power outlets. Koolbridge Solar has kept its chain of 12+ Continuation US granted patents and patent applications alive.

"We could not have a better partner than Sturdy Corporation to manufacture our first product, the Smart Load Center.  Dave Sturdy and his team have built a company that offers award winning custom electrical, electronic, mechanical, printed circuit board fabrication, software integration and other expertise. I've never worked with any company that brings a higher level of skillsets to a product like Sturdy does. They are helping us significantly improve a very complicated electrical product and I'm very thankful to Dave Sturdy and his entire team," said Stephen Burnett, Chairman and Co-Founder of Koolbridge Solar. "By partnering with Sturdy on improving, testing, and manufacturing our product, we expect the Smart Load Center^™ will have an immediate impact in the US residential rooftop solar market."

Dave Sturdy, President and CEO of Sturdy Corporation stated "Koolbridge Solar has a very unique and market leading product in its Smart Load Center^™. I'm familiar with most, if not all, of the residential energy management systems on the market similar to the SLC and I'm convinced that it's something that the solar industry will embrace and the utility industry should take a look at." "The residential breaker box has not been able to handle renewable energy very well until recently. When you marry a small computer, or in this case a microcontroller, with a residential sub-panel, all of a sudden you can do lots of things automatically like control peak demand or select which power source will be given priority to any circuit breaker.  The SLC is an automated electrical power optimizer of a user's cost to operate their home, which is a game changer. The SLC can do that and we are excited to be Koolbridge's manufacturing partner." 

About Koolbridge Solar

Koolbridge Solar is the "Gateway to the Intelligent Home." It is one of the first companies to design, develop and sell the next generation of innovative, intelligence driven, solar-ready, electrical power products that automatically select the most economical use of utility, solar, battery, wind or generator power for homes and businesses on a circuit by circuit basis. Koolbridge Solar has 30+ US patents and patent pending applications. The Koolbridge Solar Smart Load Center™ is a sub-panel that effectively captures, manages and distributes electrical energy throughout homes or businesses in the most economical fashion. Moreover, with the Smart Load Center, there is no power interruption whatsoever on critical load circuits if the utility grid goes down while using solar power.

About Sturdy Corporation

With global headquarters in Wilmington, North Carolina, Sturdy Corporation is a manufacturer and global supplier of electrical, mechanical, electronic and software solutions for a diverse range of markets with a focus on applications designed for harsh environments. Operating from its "concept to completion" enterprise platform, the company has on-site capabilities to design, manufacture, validate and distribute quality products since 1971. The production facility in Wilmington, North Carolina has 140,000 square feet with additional capacity in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom. Sturdy is a TS 16949, ISO 9001 & ISO 14001 Certified Enterprise. Sturdy has received recognition from their Fortune 500 client base that includes being a General Motors Platinum Supplier, Ford Total Quality Excellence Winner, a Caterpillar Preferred Global Supplier, and the Detroit Diesel Quality Award.

For information about pre-orders of the Smart Load Center^™, please contact Bill Griffin, President and CEO at [email protected] or call 1-703-395-1379.

SOURCE Koolbridge Solar Inc.