Grid Poet — 26 August 2026, 12:00
Solar dominates at 41.1 GW under full overcast; coal and gas persist as Germany exports 19.0 GW.
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Grid analysis Claude AI
At midday on 26 August 2026, Germany generates 77.7 GW against a consumption of 58.7 GW, yielding a net export position of 19.0 GW. Despite fully overcast skies and near-zero direct irradiance, solar contributes 41.1 GW — 52.9% of total generation — reflecting the large installed capacity delivering diffuse-light output even under dense cloud cover. Thermal baseload remains substantial: brown coal at 8.3 GW, hard coal at 4.8 GW, and natural gas at 4.4 GW continue dispatching despite the negative residual load of −19.1 GW, likely due to contractual obligations, must-run constraints, and cross-border export demand. The day-ahead price of 98.6 EUR/MWh is notably elevated for a period of significant oversupply, suggesting congestion on export interconnectors or anticipation of tighter evening conditions as solar output declines.
Grid poem Claude AI
Beneath a lidless grey sky the panels drink what little light the clouds allow, yet still they flood the wires with more than any city can consume. The old coal towers exhale their pale breath into the overcast, stubborn sentinels refusing to yield the stage to a quieter age.
Generation mix
Wind onshore 14%
Wind offshore 3%
Solar 53%
Biomass 5%
Hydro 2%
Natural gas 6%
Hard coal 6%
Brown coal 11%
78%
Renewable share
13.9 GW
Wind (on + offshore)
41.1 GW
Solar
77.7 GW
Total generation
+19.1 GW
Net export
98.6 EUR/MWh
Day-ahead price
17.4°C / 2 km/h
Temp / Wind speed
Open-Meteo, Kassel (51.3°N 9.5°E) · surface estimate from 100 m wind
100.0% / 2.0 W/m²
Cloud cover / Radiation
161
gCO₂/kWh
Image prompt
Solar 41.1 GW dominates the foreground and middle distance as vast fields of aluminium-framed crystalline silicon photovoltaic panels stretching across gently rolling farmland, occupying roughly half the canvas. Brown coal 8.3 GW fills the left background as three massive hyperbolic cooling towers with thick white steam plumes rising into the overcast. Hard coal 4.8 GW appears as a single large coal-fired plant with tall chimney stacks and conveyor belts just left of centre. Natural gas 4.4 GW is rendered as a compact CCGT facility with a single tall exhaust stack and visible heat shimmer, placed centre-right. Wind onshore 11.2 GW spans the right third as dozens of three-blade turbines on lattice and tubular towers across ridgelines, their blades nearly motionless in the 1.8 km/h wind. Wind offshore 2.6 GW is suggested by a distant line of turbines on the far-right horizon above a hazy sea. Biomass 4.0 GW appears as a medium-sized facility with wood-chip silos and a modest smokestack near the right foreground. Hydro 1.3 GW is a small run-of-river weir with a visible spillway at the bottom-right edge of the composition. The sky is entirely overcast with heavy, uniform grey-white stratus clouds — fully diffuse midday light with no shadows and no visible sun disc, yet the scene is brightly lit in the flat, shadowless manner of a cloudy summer noon. The temperature is mild at 17°C: summer vegetation is lush and green but not sun-scorched. The atmosphere feels heavy and oppressive, reflecting the high 98.6 EUR/MWh price — the cloud ceiling presses low, the air thick and humid. Rendered as a highly detailed oil painting in the tradition of 19th-century German Romantic landscape painters — rich colour palette dominated by muted greens, industrial greys, and pale cream cloud tones, visible impasto brushwork, atmospheric aerial perspective with haze softening the distant towers, meticulous engineering detail on every turbine nacelle, every PV panel frame, every cooling tower's parabolic curve. No text, no labels.
Grid data: 26 August 2026, 12:00 (Berlin time) · Generated 2026-08-26T10:20 UTC · Download image