• Exclusive Content
  • Events
  • Endeavor Business Media Energy
    1. e-Mobility

    Kohler Power acquiring Curtis Instruments to drive future Electrification & e-Mobility plans

    Jan. 10, 2022
    The power generator wants to leverage those Curtis specialties in electrication with its own long-running gasoline and diesel engine business to better serve off-highway OEM customers.
    Image credit Curtis Instruments
    Curtis Engines 61dc808a6abfd

    On-site power generation and engine firm Kohler Co. is making another acquisition move pushing it deeper into the distributed energy, microgrid and e-mobility sectors.

    The company’s Power Group has signed a deal to acquire Curtis Instruments. The New York-based electrification technology has worked as partner to many manufacturers in the material handling, golf recreational vehicle, construction, and a few on-road segments.

    Curtis Instruments has contracted globally on projects and has manufacturing locations in Puerto Rico, Bulgaria, China and India. Its product line includes motor speed controllers, instrumentation, power conversion, CAN modules and other accessors.

    Kohler’s reasoning behind the acquisition--its second such deal announced this month--is the chance to expand and diversity its power portfolio utilizing Curtis’ electrification expertise. The power generator wants to leverage those Curtis specialties with its own long-running gasoline and diesel engine business to better serve off-highway OEM customers.

    Curtis Instruments will operate as a standalone entity within the Kohler Power Group with Stuart Marwell, President at Curtis, reporting to Brian Melka, Group President – Power. Kohler Power and Curtis now have more than 160 years of combined technical experience in energy management solutions. Terms of the agreement are not disclosed.

    Experience EnergyTech's Insights into the C&I Energy Transition--Subscribe to our free newsletter

    "We're excited to welcome Curtis Instruments to our Kohler Power organization. This business, under the leadership of Stuart and Nick Marwell, is highly regarded for its market-leading position and expertise in electric and hybrid off-highway applications," said Melka. "For more than 100 years, Kohler has been a preferred source of power for homes, businesses, and equipment, and integrating the Kohler and Curtis product portfolios and existing OEM relationships will create substantial growth opportunities for both brands. With this acquisition, we are leveraging our history of trusted expertise in power resiliency, as clean energy continues to play a crucial role in the continued expansion of Kohler Power."

    The transaction comes just days following Kohler's acquisition of Heila Technologies – a microgrid software controls company – and the creation of a separate Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) business unit focused on residential energy storage.  The moves show Kohler’s commitment to expand in microgrid, decarbonized and distributed energy and potential e-Mobility for off-highway vehicles.

    -- -- -- 

    (Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 14-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. He can reached at [email protected]).

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

    Email