Koolbridge Energy took home the title of Coastal Entrepreneur of the Year on Thursday at an awards ceremony recognizing the work, success and stories of local companies and founders. 

The Wrightsville Beach-based company’s flagship product, the Smart Load Center, is an energy management system designed to seamlessly navigate power sources based on times of day, battery state, weather or other factors. The product was designed as a solution to extended power outages in the aftermath of hurricanes. 

"They looked at challenges most people simply accept — rising energy costs, grid instability, outages and inefficient power management — and instead asked a simple but powerful question,” said Michael Braddock, chief business officer of Frontier Scientific Solutions, which won the overall award last year. “Why does the electrical panel still work the same way it did decades ago?"

Stephen Burnett, co-founder and chairman of Koolbridge, accepted the award at the 18th annual Coastal Entrepreneur Awards (CEA) celebration, hosted by the Greater Wilmington Business Journal and UNCW’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) at UNCW’s Burney Center. 

"Our invention was an idea that came from a problem,” said Burnett. “It was a hurricane, and my partner's residential power was out for 11 days, and he's a prolific inventor with about 400 grand in patents, and he put his mind to work, and he created a solution to that 11-day outage problem."

In the wake of Hurricane Fran in 1996, Burnett’s partner, co-founder and chief scientist, Paul Dent, set out on a decades-long pursuit of a better solution to backup power and energy efficiency. The company partnered with electronics manufacturer Sturdy Corporation in 2024 and currently has over 30 U.S. patents and patent-pending applications. 

"Dave (Sturdy) took our product three years ago, and he dissected it,” said Burnett to the CEA audience, “layer after layer after layer, and rebuilt it into what we have today."

Burnett said the company’s goals for next year are to focus on the residential solar market and continue leveraging patented technology. 

"We see the vision of what this can do for the world,” Burnett said, “and things can help with energy management, and we're just super excited to be here."

In addition to bestowing the Coastal Entrepreneur of the Year Award to Koolbridge, the CEA ceremony honored entrepreneurs selected by the region’s chambers of commerce, including Junior’s Deli, Topsail Island Trading Company, Tony Silvagni Surf School & Beach Rentals and Ree’s Social. 

The awards ceremony also celebrated 11 category winners across healthcare, nonprofit, technology, minority-owned and retail categories. 

CEA winners are decided through a two-panel judging process, with the second panel deciding the overall winner after live presentations from category winners.

The following are this year's category winners with links to stories about them:

• Biotechnology: Nautigen
• Emerging Company: Skillmaker.AI
• Healthcare: CareHome Health Solutions
• Internet-Related Business: DesignLoud
• Manufacturing & Distribution: Koolbridge Energy
• Minority/Woman-Owned Business: Unwind Collection
• Nonprofit: Carolina Beach Mural Project
• Nonprofit: The Healing Place
• Professional Services: Earney IT
• Retail & Hospitality: Biggers Market
• Technology: True Guardian