Rejlers helps Savon Voima in waste heat recovery at their CHP plant in Joensuu

Savon Voima is investing in a new heat pump plant and a district heat accumulator on their CHP plant in Joensuu in order to e.g. improve waste heat recovery, reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and improve the security of district heat supply. Savon Voima’s long-standing partner Rejlers is responsible for the basic design of the heat pump plant and for the detailed design of the district heat accumulator. 

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has granted approximately EUR 4 million to the investment in a heat storage and heat pump facility at Savon Voima’s CHP plant in Joensuu. The project is funded by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). 

The project supports Savon Voima in achieving its climate targets and promotes carbon-neutral energy production by reducing carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 3,460 tonnes per year.  

“District heat can be stored in the accumulator in advance for the load peaks, which decreases the use of the oil-fired boilers. The accumulator enables more efficient optimisation of the electricity production while also improving the security of district heat supply in Joensuu,” says Jukka Varonen, Project Manager at Savon Voima. 

Savon Voima has identified sources of waste heat that are not currently utilised at its Joensuu power plant. “With modern heat pumps, even low-temperature heat sources, such as river water used for cooling water, can be utilised in the district heat production. This will improve the energy efficiency of the plant and promote carbon neutrality,” Varonen continues. 

Rejlers assists Savon Voima in finding beneficial technical solutions for the entire power plant in both the district heat accumulator and the heat pump plant design. The cooperation includes several engineering areas: process and mechanical design, electrical, instrumentation, and automation design, EHSQ design, HVAC design, and procurement.  

“As Savon Voima does not have in-house experience in, for example, the operation of a district heat accumulator, it has been particularly important that Rejlers has the design and execution experience of these equipment. It has been easy to lead the planning and design work forward, as we can rely on our partner’s expertise and experience,” Varonen says.

The ongoing project is preceded by a long-term partnership: Rejlers has been involved in Savon Voima’s Joensuu power plant investment projects engineering for several years. “The good experience of Rejlers, the familiar personnel and ways of working, as well as their highly professional approach have contributed to us selecting Rejlers as our partner for this project as well.”  

The trust built over the years is a good foundation for cooperation. “Our collaboration has run smoothly, we have managed to keep to schedules, and design work has progressed in good cooperation. Invoicing has also been transparent and centralised, which has made it easier to follow the costs. Rejlers is committed to the project from the start to the finish and carries out the work cost-effectively,” Varonen concludes.