Grid Poet — 16 July 2026, 22:00
Brown coal and gas dominate nighttime generation as large net imports fill a 18.9 GW gap at elevated prices.
Back
← older newer →
Grid analysis Claude AI
At 22:00 on a warm July evening, Germany's grid draws 52.4 GW against only 33.5 GW of domestic generation, requiring approximately 18.9 GW of net imports. Brown coal leads the generation stack at 10.7 GW, followed by natural gas at 7.3 GW and wind at a combined 6.0 GW onshore and offshore; solar contributes nothing at this hour. The renewable share stands at 34.4%, with biomass (4.1 GW) and hydro (1.4 GW) providing steady baseload support. The day-ahead price of 206.8 EUR/MWh reflects the tight supply-demand balance and heavy reliance on thermal dispatchable capacity and cross-border flows to meet evening demand.
Grid poem Claude AI
The furnaces of lignite glow beneath a starless summer sky, burning through the hours when the sun and wind refuse to reply. A nation draws its power from far beyond its borders' reach, while coal smoke curls like whispered prayers no turning turbine blade can preach.
Generation mix
Wind onshore 17%
Wind offshore 2%
Biomass 12%
Hydro 4%
Natural gas 22%
Hard coal 12%
Brown coal 32%
34%
Renewable share
6.1 GW
Wind (on + offshore)
0.0 GW
Solar
33.5 GW
Total generation
18.9 GW
Net import
206.8 EUR/MWh
Day-ahead price
21.5°C / 7 km/h
Temp / Wind speed
Open-Meteo, Kassel (51.3°N 9.5°E) · surface estimate from 100 m wind
79.0% / 0.0 W/m²
Cloud cover / Radiation
458
gCO₂/kWh
Image prompt
Brown coal 10.7 GW dominates the left third of the scene as a cluster of massive hyperbolic cooling towers with thick white-grey steam plumes rising into the night; natural gas 7.3 GW fills the centre-left as a row of compact CCGT power stations with tall single exhaust stacks emitting thin heat shimmer lit by sodium floodlights; wind onshore 5.5 GW stretches across the centre-right as a line of three-blade turbines on lattice towers, blades turning slowly in light wind, their red aviation warning lights blinking; wind offshore 0.5 GW appears as a small cluster of distant turbines on the far right horizon; biomass 4.1 GW is rendered as a medium-sized industrial plant with a wood-chip conveyor and a single smokestack, glowing warmly from interior furnace light; hydro 1.4 GW appears as a modest concrete dam with illuminated spillway in the right background; hard coal 4.0 GW sits behind the lignite towers as a coal-fired station with rectangular cooling towers and visible coal conveyors under floodlight. The sky is completely dark, deep navy-black, no twilight or sky glow, only artificial light sources — orange sodium streetlamps line a road in the foreground, industrial floodlights cast harsh white pools across the facilities, and occasional lit windows dot small buildings at the base of the plants. The atmosphere is heavy, oppressive, and hazy, with a warm humid summer feel — lush dark green vegetation barely visible at the edges, 79% cloud cover renders the sky a flat featureless black canopy with no stars. Transmission line pylons march across the midground carrying thick cables suggesting heavy cross-border power flows. Painted in the style of a highly detailed 19th-century German Romantic oil painting — rich deep colour palette of blacks, burnt oranges, warm industrial yellows, and cool steel blues — visible impasto brushwork, atmospheric depth with haze softening distant towers, dramatic chiaroscuro from artificial light against total darkness, meticulous engineering detail on every turbine nacelle, cooling tower, and exhaust stack. No text, no labels.
Grid data: 16 July 2026, 22:00 (Berlin time) · Generated 2026-07-16T20:20 UTC · Download image