An energy renovation project begins at Soihtu Vehkakuja

Area development, Housing, News, Soihtu Vehkakuja, Sustainability / 12.10.2022

Student Union JYY’s condominium Asunto Oy Jyväskylän JYY-Asunnot and Are Oy have entered into a contract for the energy renovation of the Soihtu Vehkakuja housing location (Vehkakuja 2). Soihtu Vehkakuja consists of 3 apartment buildings with a total of 166 apartments (one-room and two-room apartments),  Soihtu’s office spaces and third parties’ facilities.

In the energy renovation, a heat recovery system based on exhaust air heat pump technology will be built for the Soihtu Vehkakuja buildings. When the renovation is complete, the warm exhaust air of the buildings is recovered and used in heating. During summer, the recovered heat can be used also to heat domestic water, so the district heating consumption of the location will reduce significantly. Although heat pumps increase the overall electricity consumption slightly, it is expected that the investment will be very profitable as the total energy consumption decreases.

Promising results from long-term measures

The modification works are part of Soihtu’s long-term energy saving measures to curb the rise in maintenance costs. Exhaust air heat pump technology and other heat recovery systems are already in use in Kortepohja Student Village, where the results have been promising. In the building permit phase of the Soihtu Vehkakuja energy renovation, the possibility of building a solar power plant on the external roofs of the buildings is also being investigated. Solar power is also produced at other Soihtu’s locations.

“Soihtu’s housing locations are heated with renewable district heating and the electricity is certified renewable electricity, so these measures have no calculated effect on our carbon dioxide emissions. However, we also see the renovation as a climate action, since we will gain significant decrease in the overall energy consumption, says Kimmo Moilanen, the chief real estate officer at Soihtu.

The planned beginning date of the renovation is November 2022 and they will be completed in the spring of 2023. The work will mostly take place on the roofs of the buildings and the technical spaces in the ground floors. The construction work has some impact on the everyday life, when the contractor’s employees move around the premises and the sounds of the installation can be heard in the apartments. The tenants of Soihtu Vehkakuja will be informed of the schedule and worksite arrangements in more detail closer to the implementation date.