About Maxout Renewables

Maxout Renewables develops renewable energy products and technologies that drive down cost and raise efficiency. Maxout's residential power and backup solutions keep energy flowing through outages and increase the efficiency of residential PV solar systems.

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Dr. Eric Cummings, Founder, President/CEO

The Maxout team is led by Dr. Eric Cummings, who founded Cool Earth Solar and invented the LCOE-optimized PV-plant power suite that includes the innovative Balancer.  Dr. Cummings has a true insider’s view of the cost structures and electronics needs of utility-scale PV and CPV power plants. This knowledge guides and constrains Maxout’s products.  His core expertise is finding inventive solutions to heavily constrained problems.

Previously, Dr. Cummings worked as a Principal Scientist at Sandia National Laboratories in Micro and Nanofluidics and founded LabSmith, Inc., a laboratory equipment company he founded and bootstrapped.  He conceived, designed, coded, and supported LabSmith’s novel electronic products, learning how to reduce risk, speed time-to-market. He also added product value over time via firmware updates and implemented powerful control algorithms in simple microcontrollers—two capabilities that Maxout will use extensively. 

Eric earned his Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Chemistry from Caltech in 1995, earning the prestigious Clauser prize for “opening new avenues of human endeavor and thought” for his thesis, which created a new laser diagnostic technique.  He is holder of 31 issued and 5 pending patents, including 10 issued for Maxout specific technologies.

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Kirsten Pace, COO

Kirsten Pace brings product design and operations management expertise to Maxout.  Kirsten was one of the founders of Cool Earth Solar, and is currently CEO of LabSmith, a leading microfluidics technology company.  

Kirsten holds a MS in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State University.

Maxout Advisory Team

Maxout's advisors include leading innovators and dedicated, tenacious technical staff.

Kevin Daugherty, Technical and Operations Advisor

Kevin is an accomplished senior executive, with diverse experience in global operations, international manufacturing, field services, construction/facilities management, design engineering, and supply chain optimization. He is the Plant Manager and Operations Management Specialist at Flextronics and has formerly held posts at Solar City and Solar Universe.

Kurt Kuhlmann, Technology Advisor

Kurt is a serial entrepreneur and developer of some of the best-known off-grid products. He designed early circuit innovations for d.light and BioLite, managed large engineering teams at Microchip, and was a founder of Meridian Design and D-Rev Specialties. Kurt holds a bachelor's degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a master's degree from University of Massachusetts-Amherst in radar and microwave design.