AI could help India’s remote green hydrogen hubs tackle skilled manpower crunch: Honeywell Technologies

AI-assisted operations could help India’s remote green hydrogen hubs address the shortage of experienced industrial talent, says Asheesh Arora, Vice President & General Manager, Industrial Automation, Honeywell Technologies, India & APAC.

In an exclusive interaction with ETEnergyWorld, Arora said AI-enabled systems can make operational knowledge more accessible to on-site teams, support faster analysis and decision-making, and help less-experienced operators manage complex processes with appropriate human oversight.

Edited excerpts:

In your pilot projects with green hydrogen developers, how does your software help keep electrolyser stacks running safely, and which green hydrogen developers are you currently working with? What real-world data do you have on stack life and performance?

India’s green hydrogen ecosystem is in its transition phase from experimental installations to commercial scale, so reliability and stack economics continue to be important considerations. Electrolyser stacks contribute to a significant part of the total cost of producing an electrolyser, and the performance of stacks can vary based on factors including operational conditions, cycling loads, and water purity. The larger the installations become, the more need there will be to monitor such metrics.

Honeywell Technologies’

Protonium

Hydrogen Electrolyzer Control System is designed to work across PEM, alkaline and AEM electrolyser technologies and provide continuous monitoring of operating and performance indicators. The objective is to help operators monitor electrolyser degradation, identify changes in equipment behaviour early and take corrective action before they translate into a larger reliability and cost issue. Degradation directly impacts cost of energy and plant operating expenses; hence, monitoring degradation is critical to control cost of energy and green hydrogen

We are engaging with a growing set of developers across India’s emerging hydrogen ecosystem, and HECS is central to how we support electrolyzer reliability as projects move from pilot to commercial scale.

In commercial setups like TruAlt’s aviation fuel plant, how does your automation stop contaminated feedstocks from ruining catalysts without shutting down the entire facility?

Feedstock variability and contamination are established operational risks in renewable-fuel production because contaminants can affect catalyst performance, product quality, and plant economics. The ability to identify a deviation early and respond at the appropriate point in the process is therefore critical, particularly as new fuel pathways move from demonstration to commercial scale.

TruAlt Bioenergy’s

80,000

-tonne-per-year SAF project uses Honeywell Technologies’ Ethanol-to-Jet technology. In such an operating environment, automation and safety systems can provide continuous visibility into process conditions and feed quality, while defined alarms, interlocks, and isolation procedures help operators respond to abnormal conditions without unnecessarily taking the entire facility offline.

Honeywell Technologies’ Experion distributed control and safety systems are designed to give operators the process visibility and control needed to manage these conditions. The broader principle is straightforward: protect the catalyst and the process by detecting deviations early, isolating the affected section where the process design allows it, and enabling the rest of the facility to continue operating safely. This layered approach – sensing, alarming, and isolating in sequence, rather than defaulting to a full shutdown is not unique to SAF plants. The same architecture applies across renewable-fuel and biofuel facilities handling variable feedstocks, where an unplanned outage carries a much higher cost than the automation that could have prevented it.

Indian renewable developers face intense pressure to bid the lowest possible power tariffs in government tenders. Are companies buying cheaper, basic control systems instead of heavy-duty safety systems to keep initial building costs down?

Cost competitiveness is a central consideration for India’s emerging green hydrogen industry. Developers are balancing the cost of renewable power, electrolysers, storage, infrastructure and other plant systems while trying to build projects that remain commercially viable over the long term. In that environment, the initial purchase price of automation cannot be viewed separately from reliability, safety and lifecycle performance.

The key question is therefore not whether developers should spend more on automation, but whether the control and safety architecture is appropriately designed for the operating and risk profile of the plant. A lower upfront specification may appear attractive, but the consequences of an avoidable trip, prolonged downtime, equipment damage or a safety incident can extend well beyond the original equipment cost.

Honeywell Technologies’ approach is to right-size automation and safety solutions to the scale and requirements of the project. For developers competing in a price-sensitive market, the objective is to maintain the level of plant integrity required for safe and reliable operations without over-engineering the solution. The broader industry shift is towards evaluating automation as part of total project economics and lifecycle risk, rather than treating it only as an upfront capex line item.

Honeywell Technologies’ bought turbomachinery specialist CCC, pump maker Sundyne, and Johnson Matthey’s catalyst division. Why are you packaging these together and what does this mean for Indian developers who prefer mixing and matching cheaper standalone vendors to keep their capex low?

Energy-transition projects are becoming increasingly interconnected. A green hydrogen, SAF or other low-carbon process may involve process technology, catalysts, rotating equipment, controls and digital systems that all must perform reliably within the same operating environment. For developers, this makes integration, commissioning, lifecycle support and clear accountability important alongside the upfront equipment price.

Honeywell Technologies’ acquisitions of

Compressor Controls Corporation

,

Sundyne

and

Johnson Matthey’s

Catalyst Technologies business broaden the portfolio across critical equipment, process technologies, catalysts and automation. Together, they strengthen combined syngas capabilities spanning methanol, ammonia, hydrogen and low-carbon fuel value chains. The strategic rationale is to bring complementary capabilities together so customers can access a more connected set of technologies and lifecycle services.

For Indian developers, this does not mean they have to abandon a multi-vendor approach. Rather, an integrated offering can reduce the number of interfaces that need to be coordinated across technology, engineering, commissioning and lifecycle support, while providing a single point of accountability across the relevant solution stack.

As India develops first-of-a-kind energy-transition projects, the value of this approach will be measured not simply by the number of components supplied, but by how effectively those components work together through engineering, deployment and operations.

Many of India’s planned green hydrogen hubs sit in remote coastal pockets where experienced chemical engineers don’t want to relocate. Is the Indian industry genuinely open and ready to letting AI run plants remotely with less operators on-site?

Access to experienced industrial talent is an important consideration as green hydrogen projects develop in remote locations. The challenge is not unique to hydrogen: process industries globally are managing an experienced workforce that is becoming harder to replace, while new projects are often located away from established industrial centres.

For India’s hydrogen hubs, AI-assisted operations can help address this gap by making operational knowledge more accessible to teams on site and supporting operators with faster analysis, recommendations and decision support. Honeywell Technologies’ Protonium Unified Control and Optimisation is an AI-enabled offering which automates Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia performance, plantwide energy management and optimises plant operation for large electrolyser fleets with minimal operator intervention. The objective is not to remove people from the operating model; it is to augment their capabilities and help less-experienced teams manage complex processes with appropriate oversight.

Honeywell Technologies’

Experion Cognition

provides autonomous control-room support, and the company’s

collaboration with TCS

is intended to bring autonomous operations capabilities to Indian customers. These technologies point towards a model where routine monitoring and optimisation can increasingly be supported by AI, while human operators retain responsibility for critical decisions and safety.

The industry’s readiness will ultimately depend on demonstrating that these systems can operate within clearly defined safety, cybersecurity and human-oversight frameworks. For remote green hydrogen hubs, AI-assisted operations can therefore be an important enabler of scalability, rather than a substitute for skilled people.