Schneider, Microsoft show how AI can enable green hydrogen production

Schneider Electric announced Apr. 8 that it’s collaborating more closely with Microsoft to help industrial users modernize operations, break free from proprietary legacy systems, and deploy AI-powered automation at scale.

The two companies report that industrial automation is overdue for the same open, software-driven transformation that reshaped enterprise IT. They add that most factories and power plants still run on hardware-locked control systems that are expensive to update, slow to adapt and difficult to extend with industrial AI.

Consequently, Schneider adds it’s building and demonstrating a better, alternative technology. For instance, it’s collaborating with green-hydrogen producer h2e Power, and they’ve deployed India’s first fully autonomous, solid-oxide electrolyzer (SOEC) system. This is expected to let operators shift from routine monitoring to more strategic, high-impact operations. Their system has already surpassed 6,000 hours of stable operation in part- and full-load conditions, and has demonstrated just-in-time predictive maintenance. It promises to cut electricity consumption by up to 10% in a process in which electricity accounts for more than 70% of total hydrogen production costs.

To enable this and other projects, Schneider is working with Microsoft’s Azure cloud, AI, and edge infrastructure. Their goal is a practical, vendor-neutral path for industrial companies to modernize without scrapping existing investments or halting production.

For example, Schneider is using Industrial Copilot, which extends intelligence to the edge using Microsoft Azure’s cloud and AI services approach for local inference and reinforcement. It automates engineering tasks that slow modernization most, such as writing control logic, configuring systems, and navigating documentation. It reportedly saves up to 50% on time, completing production line changes in hours instead of weeks.

These capabilities are underpinned by Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Automation Expert open, software-defined automation platform. By separating software from hardware, it lets users run and reuse automation applications across different equipment, vendors and generations of infrastructure. Microsoft Azure provides the secure cloud and edge backbone that connects them, from individual sensors to enterprise dashboards.

Schneider and Microsoft add their collaboration gives users a migration path that meets organizations where they are, not where they should be.

For instance, producing green hydrogen cheaply and reliably at scale is a challenge. Solid oxide electrolyzers (SOECs) such as h2e Power’s offer the most efficiency of any hydrogen production technology, but their operating conditions are typically so demanding that it’s difficult to maintain equitable net energy consumption and operate them autonomously. Likewise, h2e’s SOEC system is technically superior, but limited real-time visibility and the absence of open, scalable automation previously pushed its operating costs above design targets.

Working with Schneider Electric, h2e deployed AI-based control on its 20 kW SOEC. This solution continuously monitors and adjusts the electrolyzer in real time, and remotely manages thermal balance, hydrogen flow, energy inputs, and safety and equipment health. Consequently, energy efficiency improved, stack wear was reduced, and the levelized cost of hydrogen, the industry’s key economic metric, fell by up to 10%, equivalent to around €500,000 per year for a typical 10 MW plant.

“SOECs have always offered unmatched efficiency, but true commercial scale depends on sustainable operations, optimized energy consumption, durability, predictive maintenance and remote, autonomous control,” says Siddharth Mayur, founder and managing director at h2e Power. “With Schneider Electric’s open, software‑defined automation and Microsoft’s AI capabilities powered by Azure, our systems are becoming smarter, more responsive, safer and dramatically more scalable. This open architecture also means we can redeploy intelligence across our entire installed base across multiple locations, without the lock‑in that has constrained industrial innovation for decades.”

Dayan Rodriguez, corporate VP for manufacturing and mobility at Microsoft, adds, “What we’re seeing at h2e Power shows the future of industrial automation. The system is powerful and built to scale. Enterprise dashboards unify data across every site, machine learning improves with every hour of operation, and open standards make the control logic fully portable.”

Gwenaelle Huet, EVP for industrial automation at Schneider Electric, “Every CIO and plant leader asks the same question: can software‑defined automation truly perform under real‑world industrial conditions? At h2e Power, the answer is clear. Industrial leaders don’t need another vision; they need a migration path. Our collaboration with Microsoft and its Industrial Copilot delivers exactly that, proving even the most complex energy systems can run as intelligent, autonomous assets.”