Grid Poet — 10 August 2026, 02:00
Brown coal and gas dominate nighttime generation as weak wind and heavy imports push prices above 130 EUR/MWh.
Back
← older newer →
Grid analysis Claude AI
At 02:00 on a warm August night, German consumption sits at 38.7 GW against 27.8 GW of domestic generation, requiring approximately 10.9 GW of net imports. Brown coal provides the backbone at 8.6 GW, supplemented by 4.1 GW of natural gas and 2.8 GW of hard coal, together constituting 55.7% of the generation mix. Onshore wind contributes 6.8 GW but is underperforming relative to installed capacity, consistent with the near-calm 1.3 km/h surface wind reported in central Germany; offshore wind adds only 0.9 GW. The day-ahead price of 131.5 EUR/MWh is elevated for a nighttime hour, reflecting the significant import dependency and the need for thermal dispatch to cover a residual load of 10.8 GW.
Grid poem Claude AI
Beneath a velvet shroud of starless cloud, the coal furnaces breathe their ancient carbon hymn, feeding a sleeping nation that dreams of wind yet wakes to fire. The turbines stand nearly still, sentinels in the breathless dark, while distant borders lend their borrowed light.
Generation mix
Wind onshore 25%
Wind offshore 3%
Biomass 13%
Hydro 3%
Natural gas 15%
Hard coal 10%
Brown coal 31%
44%
Renewable share
7.7 GW
Wind (on + offshore)
0.0 GW
Solar
27.8 GW
Total generation
10.8 GW
Net import
131.5 EUR/MWh
Day-ahead price
20.2°C / 1 km/h
Temp / Wind speed
Open-Meteo, Kassel (51.3°N 9.5°E) · surface estimate from 100 m wind
100.0% / 0.0 W/m²
Cloud cover / Radiation
402
gCO₂/kWh
Image prompt
Brown coal 8.6 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 darkness, their bases lit by orange sodium lamps revealing conveyor belts laden with lignite. Natural gas 4.1 GW fills the centre-left as two compact CCGT power stations with tall single exhaust stacks emitting thin heat shimmer, their turbine halls glowing with interior fluorescent light behind industrial windows. Hard coal 2.8 GW appears centre-right as a smaller coal plant with rectangular cooling towers and a lit coal stockyard. Wind onshore 6.8 GW stretches across the right third as a line of tall three-blade turbines on lattice towers, their rotors nearly motionless in the still air, red aviation warning lights blinking at the nacelles. Wind offshore 0.9 GW is suggested far right as a faint row of tiny red blinking lights on the distant dark horizon. Biomass 3.7 GW appears as a mid-sized industrial facility with a rounded silo and a modest smokestack between the coal and wind sections. Hydro 0.9 GW is shown as a small dam structure in the far background with a thin ribbon of water catching industrial light. The sky is completely black, densely overcast at 100% cloud cover — no stars, no moon, no sky glow, only a deep oppressive navy-black ceiling pressing down. The air feels warm and heavy at 20°C; summer foliage on scattered deciduous trees is lush dark green, visible only where sodium streetlights cast amber pools. The atmosphere is dense, humid, and oppressive, conveying the high electricity price. The entire scene is rendered as a highly detailed oil painting in the tradition of 19th-century German Romantic landscape painters — rich impasto brushwork, dramatic chiaroscuro between the industrial glow and the pitch-dark surroundings, atmospheric depth with steam and haze layering into the distance. Meticulous engineering detail on every structure: three-blade rotor geometry, hyperbolic concrete cooling tower surface texture, aluminium cladding on gas turbine housings. No text, no labels.
Grid data: 10 August 2026, 02:00 (Berlin time) · Generated 2026-08-10T00:20 UTC · Download image