The capacity and algorithm of the energy storage system play a key role in the effective use of energy produced by a photovoltaic installation. By comparing different energy storage operation algorithms, presented as block diagrams, two distinct algorithms were proposed. These differ in the order of energy transmission between the facility powered by the photovoltaic installation and the energy storage. The purpose of this article is to simulate the course of charging and discharging an energy storage using the measured values of insolation, temperature and power consumption of a certain object implemented into an Excel spreadsheet together with equations describing the photovoltaic installation and the energy storage. On the basis of the simulation results, conclusions were drawn regarding the effective use of photovoltaic energy, the optimal capacity of the energy storage in relation to the power consumed by the facility and determining which energy storage algorithm provided the best efficiency in the use of energy from the photovoltaic installation.