Energies, Vol. 18, Pages 5840: Multi-Time-Scale Optimization and Control Method for High-Penetration Photovoltaic Electrolytic Aluminum Plants

Energies, Vol. 18, Pages 5840: Multi-Time-Scale Optimization and Control Method for High-Penetration Photovoltaic Electrolytic Aluminum Plants

Energies doi: 10.3390/en18215840

Authors:
Lixin Wu
Qunhai Huo
Qiran Liu
Jingyuan Yin
Jie Yang

In response to the high energy consumption and carbon emission issues in the electrolytic aluminum industry, this paper proposes a multi-time-scale optimization and control method for electrolytic aluminum plants with high photovoltaic penetration. First, a plant architecture is established, which includes traditional power systems, renewable energy systems, and electrolytic aluminum loads. A mathematical model for flexible resources such as thermal power units, on-load tap-changing transformers, thyristor-controlled voltage regulators, saturable reactors, and electrolytic cells is developed. Based on this, a two-level optimization control strategy is designed, consisting of a day-ahead and real-time control layer: the day-ahead layer targets economic and low-carbon operation, while the real-time layer aims to stabilize the DC bus voltage. Using actual data from an electrolytic aluminum plant in Southwest China, simulations are conducted on the MATLAB 2021a platform, and the effectiveness of the strategy is verified through hardware-in-the-loop experiments. The results demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively increase the photovoltaic utilization rate, reduce thermal power output and operational costs, and decrease carbon emissions, providing a feasible solution for the green and low-carbon transformation of the electrolytic aluminum industry.