Small power grid – solar, wind and coal power
Integrated ScienceEnergyAges 14–15
Use it with your class: students open it from a link or a QR code, with no account needed.
Next in Energy
A 24-hour day plays out in about 10 seconds. The stacked area chart shows output from solar panels (daytime only), wind turbines and coal power plants, while the red line is the neighborhood's electricity demand, peaking in the evening. Coal power must exactly cover the shortfall so supply matches demand; drag the solar, wind and demand sliders and switch on battery storage to see how each source's energy output, the renewable share, and the daily CO₂ emissions change.
Lesson: Renewable energy and fossil fuel energy
What it shows
Electricity cannot easily be stored in bulk, so at every moment generation must match demand. This model of a small grid shows why that is hard with renewables alone: solar output follows the Sun and falls to zero at night, wind output varies, and demand peaks in the evening. Coal plants fill any shortfall and emit about 0.9 kg of CO₂ per kWh, while surplus renewable power at midday is wasted (curtailed) unless a battery stores it. Daily totals show the renewable share of energy and the tonnes of CO₂ emitted.
How to use
Run one day with the default settings and note the daily energy totals and CO₂. Then raise the Installed solar capacity step by step and observe that CO₂ falls less than expected because the midday surplus is curtailed. Switch battery storage on and repeat, watching the battery charge at noon and discharge in the evening. Change the Peak electricity demand or Installed wind capacity to test other scenarios, and use Restart from 0 h to compare days fairly.
Parameters you can change
- Installed solar capacity 0–60 MW
- Installed wind capacity 0–40 MW
- Peak electricity demand 10–80 MW
- 40 MWh battery storage available
- Simulation speed 1–8 h/s
Questions to explore
- Why can't adding more and more solar panels alone replace all the coal power in this grid?
- How does switching on battery storage change the renewable share and the daily CO₂ emissions?
- At what time of day does coal power supply the most electricity, and why?
