H.G. Paloheimo Oy established a sawmill to vicinity of Riihimäki railway station in 1904. At that time the city didn't exist, it belonged to Hausjärvi county. In 1910 a power station was built to power not only the sawmill, but also the settlement around it. It was a basic steamer station fueled by sawdust and other sawing leftovers. As times passed and demand for district heating power grew, the plant was upgraded several times. Major technical leaps were moving to steam turbines around 1920, and to gas turbines around 1960.

Fortum Oyj, the last operator, closed the power plant in 2007. Immediately after this, they started emptying the building of power generation equipment and converting it to more public use. The power plant will be a part of Atomi district, like the demolished brickworks, with the exception that this plant will be saved. In fact, the area's new name is apparently derived from an old nickname of the power station, Atomivoimala, given because of modern technologies applied there in the past. What kind of users will occupy the atomic power plant in the future, was yet to be confirmed in the end of 2007.