A North Carolina State University spin-out hit the global stage as dignitaries including U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Joe Biden checked it out at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26, in Scotland.
GridBridge President Chad Eckhardt wasn’t able to make it in person to Glasgow. But he did see photos of people like Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates and Prince William checking out the demo. And he live-streamed a presentation of the technology to utility companies at the conference.
The global stage is a big deal for the company, a subsidiary of Tennessee-based ERMCO.
“I think this made people stand up and take notice,” Eckhardt said, adding that the attention GridBridge is getting makes him feel good about what he does every day. “It makes me proud that someday I’ll leave the planet in a better place than when I found it.”
But it’s hardly the first time GridBridge has attracted the attention of world leaders.
GridBridge spun out of the FREEDM Systems Center, a National Science Foundation-funded program at N.C. State University that aims to stimulate the formation of startup companies enabling system technologies exploring green energy and energy efficiency.
In 2014, the then 10-employee startup was hand picked for a Department of Energy initiative that also included Durham-based Cree (now Wolfspeed (NYSE: WOLF)) and John Deere. Then-President Barack Obama even came to Raleigh, checking out the firm in person.
In 2017, the firm was bought out by transformer manufacturer ERMCO. In 2019, GridBridge won a competitive contract in the United Kingdom to partner with Iberdrola-owned Scottish Power.
The contract called for GridBridge to build and deploy next-generation smart transformers for their networks.
It’s through that partnership with Scottish Power that the COP26 opportunity emerged. Scottish Power decided to put GridBridge on full display at the Glasgow conference. Specifically, the firm was able to showcase its LV Engine project to delegates. LV Engine is piloting smart transformers to facilitate the connection of more low carbon technologies.
Delegates saw a futuristic digital demonstration of the technology, which Eckhardt hopes to start shipping next year.
LV Engine, a partnership with SP Energy Networks, was just one of several products in the global push to reduce carbon emissions on display at COP26.
In the meantime, Eckhardt said it’s been business as usual under the ERMCO umbrella. At ERMCO, GridBridge is part of a team that employs 1,500 people across three sites in Tennessee and North Carolina. GridBridge’s Raleigh office has about 20 people. And it’s hiring, Eckhardt said.