The Missing Piece of the Clean Energy Puzzle
Energy storage is the linchpin technology that enables a grid powered primarily by wind and solar. Without storage, renewable electricity must be used the instant it is generated or curtailed (wasted). With storage, excess midday solar can power evening demand, overnight wind can charge morning peaks, and even multi-day weather patterns can be smoothed. Grid operators worldwide are deploying storage at unprecedented scale to manage the transition away from dispatchable fossil fuels.
Charge, Store, Discharge
This simulation visualizes the energy flow through a storage system over multiple charge-discharge cycles. During charging, electricity flows into the storage medium (electrochemical reactions in batteries, water pumping in hydro, air compression in CAES). During discharge, the process reverses. The round-trip efficiency determines how much energy survives the round trip - at 85%, a system must charge 118 MWh to discharge 100 MWh.
Degradation and Lifetime
All storage technologies degrade with use and time. Lithium-ion batteries lose capacity through SEI layer growth, lithium plating, and cathode degradation. Flow batteries degrade through membrane fouling and electrolyte crossover. This simulation models capacity fade over the system's cycle life, showing how the effective storage capacity diminishes. The cycle life heavily influences the levelized cost - a system that lasts 10,000 cycles amortizes its capital cost over twice the energy throughput of one lasting 5,000 cycles.
Comparing Technologies
No single storage technology is optimal for all applications. Lithium-ion dominates short-duration, high-power applications (frequency regulation, 2-4 hour peak shifting) due to high efficiency and falling costs. Flow batteries excel at medium duration (4-12 hours) with independent power and energy scaling. Compressed air and hydrogen serve long-duration needs (days to weeks) where energy capacity must be large but capital cost per MWh must be low. This simulator lets you compare the economics across these regimes.