Celonis, Microsoft and Uniper: Boosting Green Energy with AI
As global energy systems transition to more sustainable models, identifying inefficiencies becomes more than a business imperative – it becomes an environmental one.
Celonis, Microsoft and Uniper are joining forces to apply AI-driven process mining and automation tools, aiming to help the energy industry optimise performance while aligning with decarbonisation goals.
Boosting sustainability with tech
Process mining, a method that uses data to trace, analyse and improve how processes function, extracts event logs from enterprise systems.
These logs are turned into visual maps of how work actually flows, often exposing bottlenecks or compliance risks that go undetected with manual oversight.
When process mining is enhanced with artificial intelligence, it adds the power of prediction and automation.
That means operations can not only respond to challenges but anticipate them, adjusting in real time.
This is particularly useful for energy providers like Uniper navigating the legacy IT setups, changing regulatory demands and the pressures of integrating renewable sources.
Celonis, Microsoft and Uniper now collaborate to deliver these benefits directly to the energy sector.
“The powerful combination of Microsoft's AI technologies with Celonis' process intelligence lets us identify value-driving AI use cases, intelligently automate workflows and track performance gains,” says Damian Bunyan, Chief Information Officer at Uniper.
“Thanks to this strategic collaboration, we can optimise our operations, empower our employees and deliver greater value to our customers."
The aim is to digitise Uniper’s operations through process intelligence that works in tandem with advanced AI capabilities.
The partnership combines Microsoft's AI stack, Celonis' data-driven process insights and Uniper's energy expertise.
The resulting solution targets large-scale, automated improvements to Uniper’s processes, ultimately increasing operational transparency and enabling smarter, faster decisions.
Sharing data for AI development
Celonis contributes a system-agnostic process intelligence platform.
This means it can work with data from any source system, creating a unified view of operations.
It also provides the business process data required to build effective AI agents in Microsoft Copilot Studio.
“The next generation of AI requires deep reasoning grounded in enterprise data and business processes” says Charles Lamanna, Corporate Vice President for Business and Industry Copilot at Microsoft.
“By combining Celonis Process Intelligence with Microsoft Copilot Studio and Microsoft AI, we are enabling companies to build intelligent solutions that deeply understand and optimise business operations.”
This foundation supports integration with Microsoft Fabric, an analytics platform that consolidates disparate data sources.
Meanwhile, Microsoft equips the project with the full spectrum of its AI services.
These include Microsoft Teams, Power BI, used for analytics and visualisation, and Power Automate, which allows organisations to automate repetitive tasks.
Combined, these tools enable deep integration of AI across business functions.
“AI is only as effective as the data and context it feeds on,” explains Bastian Nominacher, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Celonis.
“Celonis provides the process data and business context that gives AI the understanding it needs to drive meaningful business transformation and real value.
“Together with Microsoft, we're enabling Uniper to drive tangible results.”
Environmental and operational improvements
Uniper is already seeing outcomes.
The company has rolled out Celonis’ platform across 27 processes, tied to eight source systems and involving more than 350 active users.
In power plant maintenance, automation and process clarity have helped cut risk and reduce the time suppliers spend waiting to complete tasks.
These adjustments support not only efficiency but safety and compliance, key metrics in the energy sector’s sustainability strategy.
In human resources, automated communication has enhanced the recruitment process, cutting down time-to-hire and improving the experience for candidates.
In hydro power operations, enhanced business reporting has cut costs and improved how Uniper manages external suppliers, aligning cost controls with environmental performance goals.
“The powerful combination of Microsoft's AI technologies with Celonis' process intelligence lets us identify value-driving AI use cases, intelligently automate workflows and track performance gains,” says Damian Bunyan.
“Thanks to this strategic collaboration, we can optimise our operations, empower our employees and deliver greater value to our customers.”
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