Thousands of businesses are committed to changing loads during peak hours to save electricity.
As one of the key energy consumers of Ha Nam province, the average monthly power consumption of Ha Nam Textile Co., Ltd. is estimated at 3.7 million kWh, equivalent to about VND 5.4 billion.
Mr. Truong Cong Kien, Deputy General Director of Ha Nam Textile, said that using energy economically is a matter of survival, especially in hot weather, therefore, Ha Nam Textile has implemented many synchronous solutions to save electricity, such as proactively hiring consultants to assess equipment that uses electricity effectively and economically; installing additional inverters for motors of 7.5kW or more to reduce power consumption, renovating factories and offices to take advantage of natural light, changing lighting bulbs to energy-saving LED bulbs.
Hoang Ha Plastic Co., Ltd. signs agreement to shift electricity load chart. Photo: Nguyen Loan
Mr. Truong Cong Kien said that in recent years, the company has participated in load response programs many times once notified by the power utility. There were times when the company adjusted the load and saved up to 6.5MW. "Thanks to synchronous solutions, since the beginning of the year until now, Ha Nam Textile has saved about 2-4% of electricity costs every month, equivalent to VND 110-220 million/month," Mr. Kien emphasized.
Load response is one of the demand-side management programs to encourage customers to proactively adjust and reduce their electricity demand supplied from the national power system, contributing to reducing peak capacity at peak hours of the power system, and alleviating the risk of grid overloading. Up to now, nearly 4,000 customers have signed agreements to participate in the load response program with an expected capacity reduction of nearly 230,000 kWh.
Benefits from load adjustment, "avoiding" peak hours.
Electricity prices during peak hours are very different from off-peak hours. For example, according to the retail electricity tariff schedule applied for business customers at voltage levels below 6kV, the electricity prices at off-peak and peak hours are VND 1,622/kWh and VND 4,587/kWh respectively.
Thus, the cost of electricity during peak hours is 2.8 times higher than off-peak hours. Therefore, business and production customers should control their electricity consumption during peak hours to both save electricity costs and not waste electricity sources.
Besides, if using many electricity-intensive devices at the same time during peak hours, components inside the device can be damaged. Because the power current weakening means the supplied voltage is insufficient for the device to operate, for example, a refrigerator needs 220V voltage but at peak hours the voltage is only 180V, which will cause the refrigerator’s freezing function not to run properly, etc.
Therefore, limiting electricity use during peak hours not only helps the power supply maintain a stable state, and improves electricity quality, but also increases business, and production efficiency and ensures people's daily life.