RUSAL Brings Energy-Efficient Electrolyzer Designs to Life

Category: ENERGY AGENDA , ENERGY EFFICIENCY - Date: August 23, 2025

RUSAL, one of the world's largest aluminum producers, is implementing a comprehensive program to develop and implement energy-efficient electrolyzer designs. To date, the program has retrofitted more than 5,500 electrolyzers, saving more than 500 million kWh of electricity annually.

RUSAL has been implementing the Low-Cost Energy Saving Solutions Program for electrolyzers since 2017. Each year, between 300 and 1,300 electrolyzers are converted to energy-efficient configurations. Currently, these designs have been implemented in more than 5,500 electrolyzers at RUSAL's five aluminum smelters.

By the end of 2024, annual electricity savings from the updated designs exceeded 500 million kWh for the first time. This represents a monetary value of over $21.2 million. Since the program's inception, RUSAL has achieved total electricity savings of over 2.5 billion kWh.

Yiğit Kasapoğlu, Rusal's Representative Director for Turkey , commented on the matter: “Switching to energy-efficient electrolyzer designs directly improves both environmental sustainability and the economic performance of our facilities. As part of the program, we've achieved annual savings of over 500 million kilowatt-hours. This amount is equivalent to the electricity consumption of a small city, demonstrating the program's effectiveness. Furthermore, these results were achieved without any capital investment. The solutions developed by our engineers are implemented during scheduled equipment maintenance and do not require production downtime. This is a prime example of the immediate impact of RUSAL's technological innovations.”

The energy-efficient designs developed within this initiative, one of the most comprehensive projects of the RUSAL Engineering Department, optimize the magnetohydrodynamic properties of electrolyzers, reduce resistance, increase productivity, and thus reduce electricity consumption. All of these results can be achieved without requiring major investments.

The program excludes electrolyzers at the Khakas, Boguchany, and Taishet aluminum plants, which are built with RUSAL's latest high-amperage RA-300 and RA-400 technologies. These models, developed by RUSAL's Engineering Department, operate energy-efficiently as planned. Published by: Alperen ERTAŞ- [email protected]