Grid Poet — 2 August 2026, 04:00
Brown coal, gas, and hard coal dominate overnight generation as calm winds and imports fill a 12.2 GW supply gap.
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Grid analysis Claude AI
At 04:00 on a summer night, German consumption sits at 37.5 GW against domestic generation of 25.3 GW, requiring approximately 12.2 GW of net imports. Brown coal leads generation at 7.2 GW, followed by wind (combined 5.4 GW), natural gas (4.2 GW), biomass (3.8 GW), and hard coal (3.5 GW). Solar output is zero as expected at this hour, and onshore wind is underperforming relative to installed capacity given the near-calm conditions (2.3 km/h). The day-ahead price of 153.6 EUR/MWh is elevated, reflecting the heavy reliance on thermal baseload and substantial import volumes to meet overnight demand.
Grid poem Claude AI
Beneath a smothered sky the furnaces refuse to sleep, their ancient fires filling the void where wind and sun cannot reach. Coal breathes deep into the German dark, and the grid pays dearly for every borrowed watt.
Generation mix
Wind onshore 17%
Wind offshore 4%
Biomass 15%
Hydro 4%
Natural gas 17%
Hard coal 14%
Brown coal 29%
41%
Renewable share
5.4 GW
Wind (on + offshore)
0.0 GW
Solar
25.3 GW
Total generation
12.2 GW
Net import
153.6 EUR/MWh
Day-ahead price
12.0°C / 2 km/h
Temp / Wind speed
Open-Meteo, Kassel (51.3°N 9.5°E) · surface estimate from 100 m wind
99.0% / 0.0 W/m²
Cloud cover / Radiation
420
gCO₂/kWh
Image prompt
Brown coal 7.2 GW dominates the left third of the scene as a massive lignite power station with four hyperbolic cooling towers emitting thick white-grey steam plumes into the black sky; wind onshore 4.4 GW and wind offshore 1.0 GW appear as a scattered line of tall three-blade turbines on a distant ridge in the centre-left, their rotors barely turning in the still air, red aviation warning lights blinking; natural gas 4.2 GW occupies the centre as two compact CCGT plants with slim exhaust stacks and faint heat shimmer; hard coal 3.5 GW sits to the right of centre as a coal-fired station with a single large chimney and conveyor belts visible under sodium-orange floodlights; biomass 3.8 GW appears as a cluster of smaller industrial buildings with short stacks and wood-chip storage domes, warmly lit; hydro 1.1 GW is suggested by a small dam structure in the far right background with a thin waterfall illuminated by a single floodlight. The time is 4:00 AM in summer — the sky is completely dark, deep navy-black, no twilight, no glow on the horizon, overcast at 99% cloud cover so no stars are visible. The atmosphere feels heavy, oppressive, and humid, reflecting the high electricity price. Sodium streetlights cast orange pools of light along access roads between the facilities. Summer vegetation — dark leafy trees, tall grass — is barely visible in the ambient industrial glow, damp with overnight dew at 12°C. Style: highly detailed oil painting in the tradition of 19th-century German Romantic landscape painting — rich, dark colour palette of deep blues, blacks, warm oranges and industrial greys, visible expressive brushwork, atmospheric depth with layers of steam and haze, meticulous engineering detail on each turbine nacelle, cooling tower curvature, and exhaust stack. The scene evokes a brooding industrial nocturne, a masterwork painting of the thermal-dominated grid. No text, no labels.
Grid data: 2 August 2026, 04:00 (Berlin time) · Generated 2026-08-02T02:20 UTC · Download image