CMI Inaugurates MiRIS: Europe’s Largest Industrial Energy Storage Pilot Plant

MiRIS Project investigates energy storage, PV, and microgrid integration and optimization

CMI Energy’s MiRIS project will be integrated with the CMI Group’s headquarters complex to allow its engineers to perform detailed analysis of renewable integration with energy storage

CMI Energy, part of CMI Group, will be inaugurating Europe’s largest industrial energy storage facility on October 26, 2018. The MiRIS (Micro Réseau Intégré Seraing) energy storage pilot plant consists of energy storage and PV integrated with a microgrid. The purpose of the full-scale pilot project is to demonstrate advanced integration of intermittent renewable energy resources with battery-based energy storage to produce a fully dispatchable renewable energy resource. MiRIS is located at the CMI Group’s international headquarters, located in Seraing (Belgium).

Jean-Michel Gheeraerdts, President of CMI Energy, when announcing the MiRIS project said, “We now have ways to use green energy sources that eradicate their major flaw: intermittent production. Energy storage and management can be applied in a number of fields as an alternative to diesel generators for unconnected regions, as a way of deferring investment in parts of the network, as a means of optimizing existing photovoltaic or wind systems, and as an enabler of participation in the primary or secondary reserve markets.”

MiRIS consists of renewable and energy storage systems. The renewable part includes a 2 MWp, 1.75 GWh/yr., photovoltaic system with 6,500 roof top and carport panels. The 4.2MWh energy storage part consists of a lithium-ion battery system and two different flow battery systems. The technology showcase interconnects with the building’s electrical network and its DSO 15kV distribution service connection. The existing facility consumes approximately 1.3 GWh/yr.

MiRIS will facilitate investigation of the interoperability of renewables and different energy storage technologies for a variety of user energy profiles, particularly with respect to renewable energy time shifting and energy resale to the grid. MiRIS will also enable evaluation of microgrid “islanding” operation, potential grid ancillary service opportunities, and the influence of user demand response.