Gridco Ltd
Presenter:
Yvette Webb, Cofounder & President
Email:
yvette@gridcoltd.com
Phone:
1-866-388-4888
Website:
http://www.gridcoltd.com
Address:
10-55 Frid Street
Hamilton, Ontario Canada
L8P 4M5
Year Founded:
2005
Industry Sector:
Cleantech Category:
Company Overview:
Gridco Ltd provides retrofit, plug/play solutions to improved energy efficiency in rooftop/packaged air HVAC units. We have over 30 years experience in HVAC engineering and have applied that experience to develop a patented system that provides energy savings of 15-20% with an ROI of less than 18 months. Wireless data transmission from units provides savings reports and equipment surveillance.
Markets & Applications:
There are 9 million rooftop HVAC units in North America conditioning over half of the available commercial space. Energy costs represent 30% of a typical building’s annual budget. Rooftop equipment is oversized as a standard of practice and tends to overrun at non peak demands. This results in temperature fluctuations, uncomfortable room space and wasted latent heat and cold in the rooftop system.
There are many opportunities to make these buildings more energy efficient however rooftop units have limited retrofit solutions. Rapidly adopted efficiency programs need ROI of less than 3 years. Building owners and managers rely on energy consultants and mechanical contractors to provide energy savings solutions.
Technology & Products:
Gridco technology is a retrofit patent solution using predictive analytics with hardware and software components. It reduces the excessive run times during non peak demands associated with oversized equipment. We predict the amount of latent heatingécooling in the HVAC system. Customers have more efficient HVAC resulting in less temperature swings and a more comfortable space. The heating/cooling requests and their duration, the HVAC status, and the Gridco unit status are transmitted wirelessly to the Gridco server. Day on/day off energy use validation report, energy savings reports and system status reports are generated from our server.
Sustainable Competitive Advantage:
There are various types of products offering energy efficiency solutions for rooftops. Some provide efficiencies in the components in the rooftop unit such as the compressor while others use staging logic during peak demand. Some solutions work in cooling only, while others need different devices for heating and cooling and few offer data collection for validation and energy savings reporting. None provide information on the operation status of the rooftop HVAC units.
Solution | Wireless Communication | Heating and Cooling | Off-Peak Savings | ROI < 3 Years |
Gridco Ltd | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Intellidyne LLC | N | N | Y | Y? |
Smart Cool | N | N | Y | Y? |
ReGen | Y | N | N | Y |
New HVAC | N | Y | Y | N |
Energy Management Systems | Y | Y | Y | N |
Business Model & Financials:
The sale of Gridco units is through select mechanical contractors and energy consultants who have existing relationships with building owners and managers. These channel partners will resell to their customers and offer optional data collection and energy savings report options. A term contract for data will provide an ongoing revenue stream for Gridco. Software enhancements will be offered for a onetime fee as they become available.
Additional opportunities for OEM and technology licensing are being explored with strategic partners.
Gridco Ltd anticipates reaching breakeven in the 3rd quarter of year 1. Gross margins are maintained at 70% with efficient manufacturing and part sourcing. A strong customer base in Year 1 will assure extended opportunities for the Gridco software. Licensing and OEM opportunities will be better positioned with historical performance of the technology and its results.
We expect growth in 3 years to 11,500 Gridco units with revenue of $5.6 million.
Team:
Clive Webb, cofounder, COO has worked in commercial HVAC for over 30 years and has been self employed in the industry as a sub contractor and in running a successful air filtration business. It was Clive’s work experiences with building control systems and rooftops that led to the development of our product. Clive trained in the UK under a 4 year City and Guilds advanced apprenticeship with both refrigeration mechanical and technical designations.
Yvette Webb BSc, RRT is cofounder, President and has worked for over 20 years in medical sales and marketing including with an American start up for automated external defibrillators, today known as AEDs. She has had many successes in working in direct and channel partner organizations as a top sales performer and change manager. She worked with large medical device companies in the development and launch of new medical devices.
Peter Smith, Advisor, Executive in Residence, Hamilton Innovation Factor. He is also Managing Partner at The Meaford Group, Corporate Director at gShift Labs Inc and CSDC Systems Inc..
Development Plans:
We are ready for manufacturing with 60 early adopter customers waiting for product trial resulting in sales of 600 units. In 2011 we will levearge our early adopter sales and expand our channel partners. In 2012 we will develop and release new software options to provide system alert and maintenance scheduling. We will continue to build our channel network and explore strategic partners in the smart grid arena.
Additional Information:
Conover + Company Communications is presenting this information to you on behalf of the Government of Canada. Additional information is on file with the Department of Justice, Washington, District of Columbia.