Grid Poet — 18 August 2026, 04:00
Coal, gas, and wind share nocturnal generation while 13.8 GW net imports cover Germany's overnight demand gap.
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Grid analysis Claude AI
At 04:00 on a mid-August night, German consumption sits at 42.4 GW against 28.6 GW of domestic generation, requiring approximately 13.8 GW of net imports. Renewables contribute 44% of generation, with onshore wind at 6.3 GW providing the largest single renewable share despite modest wind speeds, supplemented by 3.7 GW biomass and 1.3 GW hydro. Thermal baseload is substantial: brown coal at 5.5 GW, hard coal at 4.6 GW, and natural gas at 5.9 GW collectively supply 56% of domestic output, reflecting the zero solar contribution overnight and moderate wind conditions. The day-ahead price of 149.2 EUR/MWh is elevated for a nighttime hour, consistent with the heavy reliance on imports and thermal dispatch needed to cover the supply gap.
Grid poem Claude AI
Beneath a starless August vault the furnaces breathe on, coal-throated sentinels holding the line while the sleeping nation draws its silent tide of power from distant lands. The turbines turn their pale arms through the dark, but the grid's hunger outpaces every offering the wind can make.
Generation mix
Wind onshore 22%
Wind offshore 4%
Biomass 13%
Hydro 5%
Natural gas 21%
Hard coal 16%
Brown coal 19%
44%
Renewable share
7.5 GW
Wind (on + offshore)
0.0 GW
Solar
28.6 GW
Total generation
13.8 GW
Net import
149.2 EUR/MWh
Day-ahead price
10.4°C / 4 km/h
Temp / Wind speed
Open-Meteo, Kassel (51.3°N 9.5°E) · surface estimate from 100 m wind
96.0% / 0.0 W/m²
Cloud cover / Radiation
380
gCO₂/kWh
Image prompt
Brown coal 5.5 GW dominates the left quarter as three massive hyperbolic cooling towers with thick white steam plumes rising into the black sky, lit from below by amber sodium lamps illuminating the lignite plant's conveyor belts and boiler houses; hard coal 4.6 GW appears just left of centre as a pair of tall industrial stacks with red aviation lights and visible coal bunkers under floodlights; natural gas 5.9 GW fills the centre as two compact CCGT power blocks with sleek single exhaust stacks emitting thin heat shimmer, their turbine halls glowing with interior light behind industrial glass; wind onshore 6.3 GW spans the right third as a line of eight three-blade turbines on lattice and tubular towers, their red nacelle warning lights blinking against the deep-navy-to-black overcast sky, rotors turning slowly in light breeze; wind offshore 1.2 GW is suggested by two distant turbines on the far-right horizon, tiny red dots above an invisible sea; biomass 3.7 GW appears as a mid-sized plant with a cylindrical silo and modest stack near the coal facilities, warmly lit; hydro 1.3 GW is represented by a small run-of-river station at the bottom foreground, water gleaming under a single floodlight. The sky is completely dark, 96% cloud cover blotting all stars, heavy oppressive low clouds faintly catching the industrial glow in sickly orange-grey tones reflecting the high electricity price. Summer vegetation — leafy deciduous trees and tall grass — is barely visible in the margins, rendered in deep greens touched by artificial light. The landscape is flat North German plain. Style: highly detailed oil painting in the tradition of 19th-century German Romantic landscape art — rich impasto brushwork, atmospheric chiaroscuro depth, meticulous engineering detail on every turbine nacelle, cooling tower rib, and exhaust stack — a sublime industrial nocturne. No text, no labels.
Grid data: 18 August 2026, 04:00 (Berlin time) · Generated 2026-08-18T02:20 UTC · Download image