Grid Poet — 20 July 2026, 18:00
Wind and fading solar dominate generation, but 10.7 GW net imports fill the evening gap under heavy overcast.
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Grid analysis Claude AI
At 18:00 on a heavily overcast summer evening, Germany draws 58.9 GW against 48.2 GW of domestic generation, requiring approximately 10.7 GW of net imports. Wind provides the backbone at 19.1 GW combined (onshore 15.6, offshore 3.5), while solar contributes 16.5 GW despite near-total cloud cover — expected at this hour as panels capture diffuse radiation before sunset. Brown coal maintains a notable 5.0 GW baseload, with biomass at 3.9 GW, gas at 1.8 GW, and hydro at 1.3 GW rounding out the dispatchable fleet. The day-ahead price of 118.4 EUR/MWh reflects the significant import requirement and residual load of 10.7 GW, a predictable outcome when evening demand persists while solar output begins its decline under dense overcast.
Grid poem Claude AI
Beneath a sky sealed shut like hammered lead, the turbines turn their slow and tireless prayer while coal smoke rises where the sun has fled, and distant borders lend the power they can spare. Ten thousand megawatts cross silent wires unseen — the price of dusk in a land caught between.
Generation mix
Wind onshore 32%
Wind offshore 7%
Solar 34%
Biomass 8%
Hydro 3%
Natural gas 4%
Hard coal 1%
Brown coal 10%
85%
Renewable share
19.1 GW
Wind (on + offshore)
16.5 GW
Solar
48.2 GW
Total generation
10.7 GW
Net import
118.4 EUR/MWh
Day-ahead price
18.1°C / 12 km/h
Temp / Wind speed
Open-Meteo, Kassel (51.3°N 9.5°E) · surface estimate from 100 m wind
99.0% / 47.0 W/m²
Cloud cover / Radiation
112
gCO₂/kWh
Image prompt
Wind onshore 15.6 GW dominates the right half of the scene as dozens of three-blade turbines on lattice and tubular towers stretching across rolling green hills, blades turning moderately in light wind. Solar 16.5 GW fills the centre-right foreground as vast fields of aluminium-framed crystalline silicon PV panels reflecting only the dull grey of the overcast sky, no glint or shine. Brown coal 5.0 GW occupies the left quarter as a cluster of massive hyperbolic cooling towers emitting thick white steam plumes that merge into the low cloud ceiling, with conveyor belts of dark lignite visible at ground level. Biomass 3.9 GW appears as a mid-ground industrial facility with cylindrical wood-chip silos and a modest smokestack trailing pale vapour. Wind offshore 3.5 GW is suggested in the far background as a line of turbines on the hazy horizon above a sliver of grey sea. Natural gas 1.8 GW sits as a compact CCGT plant with a single tall exhaust stack and silver heat-recovery units near the coal complex. Hydro 1.3 GW is a small concrete dam with spillway on a river winding through the left foreground. Hard coal 0.6 GW is a single smaller power station with a square chimney beside the brown coal towers. The sky is 99% overcast: a heavy, unbroken ceiling of dark grey stratus clouds pressing low, with a narrow band of dim orange-red light glowing along the western horizon — it is 18:00 dusk in July, rapidly fading daylight, the upper sky already darkening toward deep slate blue. The atmosphere feels heavy and oppressive, reflecting the high electricity price. Lush midsummer vegetation — tall grass, full-canopy deciduous trees — at 18°C, no heat haze. Style: highly detailed oil painting in the tradition of 19th-century German Romantic landscape painters such as Caspar David Friedrich and Carl Blechen — rich impasto brushwork, deep atmospheric perspective, dramatic chiaroscuro between the dim dusk glow and the industrial steam and smoke, meticulous engineering accuracy on every turbine nacelle, every cooling tower ribbing, every PV cell grid. No text, no labels.
Grid data: 20 July 2026, 18:00 (Berlin time) · Generated 2026-07-20T16:20 UTC · Download image