The Nha Trang Textile and Garment Joint Stock Company is a production unit that had high electric energy consumption - about 58 million KWh per year. To reduce product costs and increase the competitiveness in the market during the period 2006 – 2010, the company constantly implemented power-saving solutions in production.

The Company set up guidelines whereby the lighting system was to be used reasonably and economically; the motor systems were to be regularly maintained to improve their efficiency and checked for the obsolete and power-consuming motors to be removed. The company also fitted inverters in the motor systems to help regulating load accordingly, thus saving electric energy.

The thermal systems in ​​dyeing factories and garment factories were regularly monitored so that steam leaking holes could be detected and fixed in time, thus preventing power losses. Air-conditioning systems were operated properly and flexibly in line with production requirements. In implementing electric energy solutions, the Company usually sought counsel from outside professional bodies with an aim of achieving the highest efficiency.

Particularly, the Company paid much attention to the management and training. Continuous production was carried out when possible and proper procedures for equipment operation were developed to reduce electricity costs.

According to Mr. Le Ngoc Hoan, the CEO of the company, during the 5-year period 2006 -2010,  the Nha Trang Textile and Garment Joint Stock Company implemented many solutions aimed at using energy economically and efficiently,  among which the most notable were 2 energy saving projects implemented in 2008 and 2009 with high efficiency. One of those two projects was concerning the replacement of fans in the fan coil units in Fiber Factory 1 and Fiber Factory 2; the other was concerning the renovation of structures of air-handling units for better ventilation in machines sections also in Fiber Factory 1 and Fiber Factory 2.

In 2007 the Company discovered that all fans in the fan coil units of fiber factories were centrifugal ones which had been in operation for 15 years and were becoming obsolete, with some motors burned, transmission efficiency decreased as well as propellers and cages rusting away. If in prolonged operation, those fan coil units would work with low efficiency and consume so much electric energy. To address such the situation, the company proposed to the Board of Directors a project of replacing the centrifugal fans with axial ones that had equivalent flow and pressure but lower power consumption.

As was calculated that with the replacement of 12 centrifugal fans of 75 kW and 55 kW with 12 axial fans of 55 kW and 45 kW, each year the company could save more than 800 million VND. The total initial capital was 2.6 billion VND but after less than four years, the company could return the invested capital. In fact, according to reports from the company's support mechanical power plant, only 3 months after the renovation of the fan coil units, the company saved over 850 million VND.

Then, as a result of the project renovating structures of air-handling units, the direct use of natural wind in machines sections not only reduces much electric energy consumption for cooling but also saves the electric energy consumption for pumping by half. Calculation results show that the savings since the renovation is nearly 380 million VND per month

By Nguyen An