UVA Orders Helios TCS for South Plant Retrofit
We’re pleased to share a major development in our partnership with the University of Virginia (UVA). Following their initial success with the Helios Tube Cleaning System (TCS) across their district utility network, UVA has now selected the Helios TCS for retrofitting their South Chiller Plant — further expanding the reach and impact of this transformative technology.
Background: Why UVA Chose Helios
UVA’s initial installation of the Helios TCS was focused on comparative testing of a chiller system equipped with the technology versus an identical system without it. Over 3,000 run hours, the Helios-equipped system has delivered 4–8% in improved efficiency, with no approach temperature rise and elimination of the need for manual condenser cleaning.
Those results—coupled with the simplicity, reliability, and low maintenance demands of the system—prompted UVA to expand installation. Today, UVA operates 20 Helios systems covering more than 27,000 tons of cooling capacity, and has eliminated manual cleaning for served condensers across those systems.
The cumulative impact is impressive:
- Over $1.05 million in energy savings achieved to date
- More than 10,689 tons of CO₂ emissions avoided
- $150,000 in reduced maintenance costs, and ~2,000 labor hours liberated from manual cleaning tasks
- Highly reliable operation: the Helios systems have logged over 250,000 hours and more than 1,000,000 injection cycles with zero chiller interruptions attributable to Helios operations
Importantly, UVA reports that maintenance is minimal: ball-change procedures take about 20 minutes for one system, cumulating to ~33 hours per season for all 20 systems.
New Phase: South Chiller Plant Retrofit
With that proven performance as a foundation, UVA has now placed an order for the Helios TCS as part of the South Chiller Plant retrofit. This expansion is a tangible endorsement of the Helios solution’s scalability, effectiveness, and operational stability in a real-world, large-scale institutional setting.
Key highlights of this new phase:
- The South Plant retrofit will bring Helios technology into one of UVA’s critical distribution hubs, helping drive further gains in energy efficiency, operational cost savings, and system reliability.
- This retrofit deepens our partnership with UVA and demonstrates confidence in the Helios system’s long-term value.
- By integrating Helios into the South Plant, UVA continues toward its goals of sustainability, carbon reduction, and leaner facility operations.
What It Means for Innovas, Our Customers, and the Industry
- Validation of Performance
UVA’s continued adoption is perhaps our strongest independent validation. Their rigorous metering, comparative testing, and real-world operational experience underscore Helios’ credibility. - Momentum and Market Confidence
This additional order strengthens our market narrative and helps prospective customers see how modular Helios adoption can scale over time. - Proof of Low-Ops, High-Reliability Design
The fact that UVA continues to operate Helios systems for years without needing manual cleaning or complex maintenance speaks directly to the system architecture and ruggedness we’ve built in. - A Roadmap for Other Institutions
Large campuses, district cooling systems, hospitals, industrial facilities—those with centralized cooling infrastructure—can look to UVA as a peer reference for staged adoption, ROI modeling, and performance expectation.
We believe the UVA South Plant retrofit is a milestone for both Innovas and the broader industry effort toward more efficient, sustainable utility operations. We will continue to share updates, performance metrics, and lessons learned as the retrofit progresses
