Viraj Aero wants turbine exhaust to supply data-center cooling water

Viraj Aero is developing a gas-turbine generator that supplies both electricity and cooling water to data centers. The unusual part is the source of the water: the company captures it from the exhaust produced by burning natural gas.

Some of that recovered water is intended to cool the data center. The rest is converted to steam and fed back into the turbine. Viraj says the approach can increase power output by up to 40 percent for the same fuel input while reducing nitrogen-oxide emissions.

Those are company-reported performance claims. The launch doesn't provide independent test results or enough operating detail to establish how the figures vary by installation. It also doesn't show that faster permitting will follow in every jurisdiction, despite the company's argument that lower emissions can help.

The YC Fall 2026 startup is applying technology first developed for aviation to on-site power generation. It says its turbine has completed a series of ground tests and is being integrated into an aircraft. The proposed data-center product is a 10-megawatt generator set assembled from turbine modules.

Watch the original launch video.

The design addresses two constraints together. A data center needs reliable power, but it may also need a cooling-water supply. Viraj's proposition is to reduce dependence on both a grid connection and a water pipeline by recovering a combustion byproduct at the site.

That is different from saying the facility needs no external resources. The turbine still requires fuel, and the announcement doesn't establish all of the infrastructure, maintenance or environmental requirements of a deployed installation. The claim concerns how the proposed generator supplies electricity and water.

Viraj reports more than 1.3 gigawatts of demand under letters of intent. Those letters indicate interest rather than delivered equipment or recognized revenue. The company also says a major engine manufacturer is a paying customer; its public YC profile identifies work with Safran.

Co-founders Joseph Risson and Mathilde Bouilloux bring aerospace and energy-development backgrounds. Risson trained in turbomachinery at ISAE-SUPAERO and worked on propulsion at Ascendance Flight Technologies and Beyond Aero. Bouilloux has developed power projects totaling more than 120 megawatts and worked on infrastructure investment.

The broader team, according to the company, includes experience at GE, Rolls-Royce, Safran and Formula 1. Viraj says operations are led by a former managing director of GE Aerospace France and that its CTO has built an engine from scratch.

The commercial schedule remains forward-looking. The launch seeks data-center developers and energy teams looking for on-site power for 2028 and beyond, along with turbine packagers and operators interested in the technology.

For those customers, the questions are practical: how much recoverable water the system produces under their operating conditions, how reliably the modular generators run and whether the overall installation meets their requirements. Viraj has an aviation prototype and reported customer interest. Its next challenge is translating those into a power-and-water system that works at a data-center site.