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]. For a facility manager, the math is straightforward: reduced grid draw, lower operating costs, and a new, small source of on-site generation, all without a forklift upgrade.
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. Landing a partnership with a leading data center operator like Digital Realty for a field test is the kind of credential that opens doors with other risk-averse industrial customers [Data Center World, retrieved 2026].
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]. His career has spanned fuel cell engineering, venture capital, and business development, giving him a network and a pragmatic view of the commercialization valley of death. 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, an investor focused on early-stage climate solutions [PitchBook, retrieved 2026].
| Role | Name | Key Background |
|---|---|---|
| Chief Executive Officer | Nate Turner | Leads the company from Alameda, CA [Rackcdn.com, retrieved 2026]. |
| Co-founder & Chief Operating Officer | Matt Price | Former Managing Director of Cyclotron Road; Co-founder/CFO of Activate Global [LinkedIn, retrieved 2026]. |
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. Any drop in reliability or interference with the core cooling function would be a non-starter for data center operators, where uptime is paramount.
- Economic risk. The installed cost of the LVE system versus the value of electricity and cooling it generates defines the business case. Hayzel has not disclosed pricing, making the unit economics a black box for outsiders.
- Competitive response. Giants like Trane and Carrier already sell chillers with integrated energy-recovery options. Their most likely move is to improve and promote their own proprietary solutions, potentially squeezing the retrofit market Hayzel targets.
Hayzel’s answer to these risks is its focused pilot strategy. By proving the technology in a high-stakes, real-world environment with a partner like Digital Realty and NREL, they aim to build the performance data and customer reference needed to scale.
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 in data centers or large commercial buildings, and potentially raising a Series A round to fund manufacturing scale-up. The company will also need to begin articulating its commercial model,whether it sells turbines outright, offers them through a performance contract, or some hybrid.
For a sense of scale, consider that 121,000 kWh saved per year, per chiller, is roughly the annual electricity consumption of eleven average U.S. homes. If Hayzel can install its turbines on just 100 chillers of similar size, the aggregate savings would power a small neighborhood. The incumbent they must beat isn’t another startup; it’s the inertia of the expansion valve, a piece of hardware that has been wasting energy, quietly and reliably, for generations. Hayzel’s task is to make that reliable waste seem expensive.
Sources
- [Data Center World, April 2024] How Hayzel is turning data center cooling systems into energy-generating assets | https://datacenterworld.com/article/how-hayzel-is-turning-data-center-cooling-systems-into-energy-generating-assets/
- [Hayzel, retrieved 2026] Solution, Hayzel | https://www.hayzel.co/about
- [GlobeNewswire, January 2026] Chillers Market to Grow by $2 Billion During 2026-2030 Reaching $13.3 Billion | https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/01/27/3226274/28124/en/chillers-market-to-grow-by-2-billion-during-2026-2030-reaching-13-3-billion-carrier-daikin-industries-trane-technologies-hitachi-air-conditioning-co-and-johnson-controls-lead-the-i.html
- [Rackcdn.com, retrieved 2026] Hayzel LVE Technology Overview | https://146a55aca6f00848c565-a7635525d40ac1c70300198708936b4e.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/images/e2ae796d361ad68ccbe2efa928b1369c33991819.pdf
- [Data Center World, retrieved 2026] Startup Tech in Data Centers? How 7 Startups Are Trying to Break Through | https://datacenterworld.com/article/startup-tech-in-data-centers-how-7-startups-are-trying-to-break-through/
- [LinkedIn, retrieved 2026] Matt Price | https://linkedin.com/in/mbprice
- [PitchBook, retrieved 2026] Hayzel 2026 Company Profile: Valuation, Funding & Investors | https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/1372657-15