Grid Poet — 17 August 2026, 10:00
Overcast skies suppress solar, stall winds, and push coal, gas, and 17 GW net imports to meet summer demand.
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Grid analysis Claude AI
At 10:00 on a mid-August morning, Germany's grid draws 61.4 GW against 44.4 GW of domestic generation, requiring approximately 17.0 GW of net imports. Complete cloud cover has suppressed solar output to 18.1 GW—well below what clear August skies would yield—while near-calm winds (2.7 km/h) limit onshore and offshore wind to a combined 4.6 GW. Dispatchable thermal plants are responding accordingly: brown coal at 5.3 GW, hard coal at 4.8 GW, and natural gas at 6.5 GW collectively supply 16.6 GW, driving the day-ahead price to an elevated 175.5 EUR/MWh. The 62.5% renewable share, carried largely by underperforming solar and steady biomass at 3.9 GW, is modest for a summer weekday and reflects the poor weather conditions.
Grid poem Claude AI
Beneath a leaden August ceiling the turbines barely whisper, while coal towers exhale their ancient breath to fill the silence left by a hidden sun. The grid stretches its arms across every border, buying what the sky refuses to give.
Generation mix
Wind onshore 7%
Wind offshore 3%
Solar 41%
Biomass 9%
Hydro 3%
Natural gas 15%
Hard coal 11%
Brown coal 12%
62%
Renewable share
4.5 GW
Wind (on + offshore)
18.1 GW
Solar
44.4 GW
Total generation
17.0 GW
Net import
175.5 EUR/MWh
Day-ahead price
16.2°C / 3 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
251
gCO₂/kWh
Image prompt
Solar 18.1 GW occupies the broad centre-right as vast fields of aluminium-framed crystalline silicon PV panels stretching across flat farmland, their surfaces dull and lightless under heavy overcast, reflecting only grey; brown coal 5.3 GW dominates the far left as three massive hyperbolic cooling towers with thick white-grey steam plumes merging into the low cloud ceiling; natural gas 6.5 GW appears centre-left as a compact CCGT power station with twin exhaust stacks venting heat shimmer; hard coal 4.8 GW sits behind the gas plant as a blocky coal-fired station with a single tall chimney trailing dark smoke; biomass 3.9 GW is rendered as a medium-sized wood-chip power plant with a rounded silo and modest smokestack near centre; wind onshore 3.3 GW appears as a small cluster of three-blade turbines on a gentle ridge to the far right, their rotors nearly motionless in the still air; wind offshore 1.3 GW is suggested by distant turbines on a hazy grey horizon line beyond low fields; hydro 1.2 GW is a small run-of-river weir and powerhouse tucked along a river in the foreground. The sky is entirely sealed by thick, low stratus cloud in uniform slate grey—no blue, no sun disk, no breaks—casting flat diffuse daylight at mid-morning brightness with no shadows. The atmosphere feels heavy and oppressive, hinting at the 175.5 EUR/MWh price tension. Summer vegetation is full and green but muted in the flat light: crops in the fields, deciduous trees in leaf, grass along the riverbank—temperature around 16 °C suggesting a cool, clammy August day. High-voltage transmission pylons stride across the middle ground, cables disappearing toward borders, symbolising the massive imports. Style: highly detailed oil painting in the tradition of 19th-century German Romantic landscape painters—Caspar David Friedrich's atmospheric gravity crossed with Adolph Menzel's industrial precision—rich muted colour palette of greys, sage greens, and ochres, visible impasto brushwork, atmospheric depth with sfumato haze around distant cooling towers, meticulous engineering detail on every turbine nacelle, panel frame, and smokestack. No text, no labels.
Grid data: 17 August 2026, 10:00 (Berlin time) · Generated 2026-08-17T08:20 UTC · Download image