The most efficient part of a commercial chiller is the part that does nothing. When high-pressure liquid refrigerant expands into a low-pressure vapor to provide cooling, the energy in that pressure drop is typically dissipated as waste heat. It’s a thermodynamic shrug, a necessary loss accepted for over a century. Hayzel, a six-person startup in Alameda, looked at that shrug and saw a miniature power plant waiting to be plugged in [Data Center World, April 2024].
Their bet is a hardware retrofit called a Liquid-Vapor Expander (LVE), a two-phase turbine generator that bolts onto existing chillers. Instead of letting refrigerant expand through a simple valve, the LVE routes it through a turbine. The spinning turbine drives a generator, producing electricity, while the act of extracting that work from the refrigerant also increases the chiller’s cooling capacity [Data Center World, April 2024]. Co-founder Matt Price describes the result as turning a building’s cooling system into an asset that generates carbon-free power [Data Center World, April 2024]. For data centers, where cooling can account for over a third of energy costs, that’s a proposition worth a week-long retrofit [Hayzel, retrieved 2026].
The wedge of a retrofit
The global market for chillers is a slow-moving giant, projected to grow from $10.94 billion to $13.3 billion by 2030 [GlobeNewswire, January 2026]. It is dominated by manufacturers like Trane, Carrier, and Johnson Controls, whose business models are built on selling new, integrated systems. Hayzel’s wedge is that it doesn’t ask a customer to replace a million-dollar chiller that has decades of life left. Its turbine is an add-on, a bolt of efficiency that promises to improve the coefficient of performance (COP) of an existing machine. Initial models suggest a potential 10% COP improvement and over 121,000 kWh in annual energy savings for an 800-ton chiller [Rackcdn.com, retrieved 2026].
A pilot with heavyweight backing
Traction in hard tech is measured in validated prototypes, not website sign-ups. Hayzel’s most significant traction signal is its participation in the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2) program, which is managed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Through this program, a prototype LVE is being deployed on an 800-ton water-cooled chiller at a Digital Realty data center in California [Rackcdn.com, retrieved 2026]. The pilot aims to validate the system’s impact on energy savings, carbon reduction, and, crucially, reliability under real-world operating conditions.
The team and the treasury
Hayzel’s founders bring a blend of deep climate tech ecosystem experience and operational focus. Matt Price, the COO, was previously a managing director at the hard-tech fellowship Cyclotron Road and a co-founder of Activate Global, a non-profit that deployed over $100 million to help scientists commercialize breakthroughs [LinkedIn, retrieved 2026]. CEO Nate Turner leads the company from Alameda [Rackcdn.com, retrieved 2026]. To fund their path from prototype to product, they’ve secured a $3.6 million seed round from the Cool Climate Collective [PitchBook, retrieved 2026].
| Role | Name | Key Background |
|---|---|---|
| Chief Executive Officer | Nate Turner | Leads the company from Alameda, CA |
| Co-founder & COO | Matt Price | Former Managing Director of Cyclotron Road; Co-founder/CFO of Activate Global |
Where the wheels could come off
The bet is elegant, but the path is lined with the classic hurdles of physical product startups. Hayzel must prove its turbine can achieve promised efficiency gains at scale, survive for years in a harsh mechanical environment without degrading chiller reliability, and do so at a cost that delivers a compelling payback period. They are also entering a field with formidable incumbents.
- Technical risk. The two-phase flow of refrigerant through a turbine is a complex engineering challenge.
- Economic risk. The installed cost of the LVE system versus the value of electricity and cooling it generates defines the business case.
- Competitive response. Giants like Trane and Carrier already sell chillers with integrated energy-recovery options.
The next twelve months
The coming year is about moving from a single prototype to early commercial deployments. Success looks like converting the Digital Realty pilot into a paid installation, announcing one or two additional flagship customers, and potentially raising a Series A round to fund manufacturing scale-up.