Drogue is developing an offshore computing concept that pairs electricity generated from ocean heat with seawater cooling. The aim is to place AI infrastructure alongside its energy source.
Drogue has raised $20 million and targets an early-2028 prototype, TechCrunch reported on November 13.
Toyota Ventures lists Drogue in its portfolio, describing a system intended to generate electricity at sea without terrestrial grid connections or conventional fuel deliveries. The investor also identifies seawater cooling as a way to reduce the overhead of running data centers.
The underlying technology, ocean thermal energy conversion, uses the temperature gap between warm surface water and cold deep water. The U.S. Energy Information Administration explains that heated working fluid drives a turbine before deep seawater cools it back into liquid.
That process has constraints. Hong Kong’s Electrical and Mechanical Services Department notes that pumping consumes substantial energy and that suitable temperature differences restrict deployment locations.
For potential customers, the next meaningful evidence will be measured computing performance, net electricity output and operating costs. The proposal should be assessed as infrastructure under development; commercial availability has not been established by the reviewed sources.
