Transforming waste into environmentally friendly energy: How EEW Energy from Waste GmbH optimized operations with Azure

EEW Group plays a vital role in Germany’s push toward sustainable energy and circular resource management. Operating 21 plants across 17 sites in Germany and two more in neighboring countries (Luxembourg, Netherlands), the company transforms over 5 million tons of municipal and commercial waste into electricity, district heating, and industrial steam each year—helping to reduce landfill usage and generate reliable, low-emission energy.

EEW continuously optimizes its infrastructure and works in a targeted manner to reduce its distributed footprint which required new approaches. Every location operated its own IT stack, often with outdated hardware, inconsistent configurations, and limited visibility across systems.

“We were running different setups at each site, some of them getting old,” says Torsten Lesniak, Head of IT at EEW. “Keeping them secure and up to date was becoming more and more of a challenge.”

In 2023, EEW embarked on an ambitious project to modernize its IT infrastructure, unifying all 17 facilities under a single architecture centered on Microsoft Azure Local, Azure Arc, and Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD).

The early decision-making and evaluation process

EEW thoroughly assessed its options. The IT team knew the existing on-premises model was unsustainable, but a full migration to public cloud posed challenges.

“We looked at everything from refreshing our existing hardware to going all-in on the cloud,” says Torsten Lesniak. “But each approach had trade-offs when it came to resiliency, latency, and cost.”

Because many plants are in rural or industrial areas with variable connectivity, the team quickly ruled out any architecture that would require a constant high-speed internet link for critical operations. “That eliminated a lot of pure cloud options right away,” says Thomas Bail, who served as EEW’s transition manager for the project.

At the same time, EEW wanted the benefits of centralized management, security, and scalability that the cloud provides. That led to a closer examination of hybrid solutions. “We needed something that could unify 17 different architectures without compromising the autonomy of each location,” says Thomas Bail.

EEW collaborated with German IT services provider DATAGROUP. Together, they tested Azure Local in pilot environments, measuring latency, reliability, and integration with existing systems. Azure Arc was evaluated for its ability to manage workloads, enforce policies, and provide visibility across all sites through a single control plane. Azure Virtual Desktop was trialed to see if it could standardize access for users across the organization.

The tests confirmed the solution’s fit, not just from a technical perspective but also in terms of operational flexibility. “We saw that Azure Local, Azure Arc, and AVD could meet all our requirements,” says Torsten Lesniak. “Once we had that confidence, the decision was straightforward.”

A hybrid solution for distributed operations

EEW chose an adaptive cloud approach with Azure Local enabled by Azure Arc. This initiative is a cornerstone of EEW’s adaptive cloud strategy—leveraging hybrid capabilities to ensure flexibility, scalability, and consistent management across diverse environments.

EEW and DATAGROUP deployed hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) across all 21 plants. Each site received an Azure Local cluster to handle latency-sensitive workloads locally, while Azure Arc and Azure Virtual Desktop linked the environment to Azure for centralized control and provisioning.

“With Azure Local and AVD, we can now centrally manage workloads while maintaining local operations, even in the event of an internet outage,” says Torsten Lesniak. “That kind of resilience is a must in our industry.”

“We needed a solution that didn’t require a permanent internet connection,” says Carsten Brandner, Lead Architect at DATAGROUP. “Azure Local was the right fit because it gave us cloud capabilities with on-premises reliability.”

Azure Virtual Desktop added another key benefit: secure, standardized access to tools and applications across all sites. “Before, each plant had a different way of handling user access and endpoint management,” says Thomas Bail. “Now we can deliver the same experience everywhere, with full control over updates, policies, and security.”

Implementation without compromise

Despite the project’s scope and speed, EEW and DATAGROUP were able to complete the transition in just six months. The team used modular deployment strategies and lessons from initial pilot sites to accelerate rollouts at later stages. But not everything went smoothly.

“Some of the locations had more legacy systems or unique constraints,” says Carsten Brandner. “We had to be flexible. It wasn’t just about installing new hardware—it was about understanding what each site needed and making sure the solution fit their operations.”

One of the challenges was to get everyone on board and on the same page, given that the locations had handled a lot of IT themselves previously. “You can’t just walk into a site and replace everything overnight,” says Thomas Bail. “We brought them into the process early, explained the benefits, and made sure they had the tools and training to succeed.”

According to Torsten Lesniak, DATAGROUP’s role was instrumental. “They weren’t just a vendor—they were a partner,” he says. “They helped us develop the architecture, manage the rollout, and troubleshoot in real time. That made all the difference.”

How Azure Arc and Azure Virtual Desktop are used day-to-day

Today, Azure Arc and Azure Virtual Desktop are embedded in EEW’s daily operations, providing both stability and flexibility. Azure Arc serves as the central operational system for the company’s IT environment, allowing the small central team to oversee and manage infrastructure spread across multiple countries.

“With Azure Arc, we can monitor workloads, apply updates, and enforce security policies across every site from one dashboard,” says Torsten Lesniak. This capability enables centralized resource management and governance across on-premises, multicloud, and edge environments, and reduces the effort needed to maintain consistency. “If we need to push a patch or update, we can do it once through Azure Arc and know it’s applied everywhere,” says Carsten Brandner.

Azure Arc also improves incident response. If a site experiences an issue, the central team can remotely diagnose and often resolve it without dispatching engineers. “We can see the problem, act on it, and keep operations running,” says Thomas Bail.

Azure Virtual Desktop plays an equally important role in enabling secure, standardized access for employees and third-party contractors. Staff can log into a familiar desktop environment from any authorized device, with applications and data already in place. “Whether someone is in Berlin, at a remote plant, or working from home, the experience is identical,” says Thomas Bail.

For external partners, AVD has transformed onboarding. “We can provision access in hours instead of days,” says Torsten Lesniak. “It means less downtime waiting for someone to get connected, and more time spent actually getting work done.”

Operational impact and early results

Since completing the rollout, EEW has seen significant improvements in IT efficiency, security, and day-to-day plant operations. Provisioning new virtual desktops now takes minutes rather than hours. Patch management and firmware updates can be handled centrally instead of individually at each site. And IT teams have visibility across the entire network through the Azure Portal.

“The standardization alone has been a game-changer,” says Torsten Lesniak. “We can react faster, monitor system health, and ensure that security policies are applied everywhere. That wasn’t possible before.”

The project has also reduced the physical complexity of EEW’s infrastructure. By replacing aging servers and decentralized systems with HCI nodes optimized for Azure Local, the company significantly cut its hardware footprint. That translates into lower maintenance, power savings, and more room for future growth.

Most importantly, the new environment has strengthened EEW’s ability to maintain efficient plant operations, even under challenging conditions. “Continuity is key,” says Thomas Bail. “Whether it’s a network outage or a local issue, we have systems in place to keep operations going.”

Sustainability and innovation

While the primary driver of the project was operational efficiency, EEW sees the transformation as a key enabler of its broader sustainability goals. “Reducing waste, generating clean energy, and lowering emissions are part of our mission,” says Torsten Lesniak. “And having a modern, secure, and scalable IT foundation supports all of that.”

By minimizing downtime and streamlining operations, EEW can convert more waste into energy more consistently and with fewer interruptions. And with centralized data and analytics, the team can begin to explore predictive maintenance, intelligent load balancing, and other ways to optimize efficiency.

Azure also provides EEW with a springboard for future innovation. “We’re already looking at services like Azure Monitor, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, and automation tools to further improve security and performance,” says Carsten Brandner. “There’s a lot of potential.”

A model for industrial modernization

For other industrial organizations wrestling with legacy systems and fragmented infrastructure, EEW’s journey offers a compelling example of what’s possible. “Yes, there are hurdles,” says Thomas Bail. “But if you find the right partner and focus on the outcomes, you can transform your operations without sacrificing control.”

Torsten Lesniak agrees. “This isn’t just about saving money or checking boxes,” he says. “It’s about creating a foundation we can build on. We have the flexibility to grow, the security to protect our data, and the tools to deliver better outcomes.”

From patchwork systems to a unified, resilient platform, EEW’s cloud journey demonstrates that moving to Azure is more than a technology upgrade—it’s a strategic transformation.

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