Grid Poet — 15 September 2026, 00:00
Brown coal, gas, and hard coal dominate midnight generation as high imports fill a 9.2 GW supply gap.
Back
← older newer →
Grid analysis Claude AI
At midnight on 15 September 2026, German domestic generation totals 36.6 GW against consumption of 45.8 GW, implying net imports of approximately 9.2 GW. Brown coal at 11.9 GW and natural gas at 8.2 GW together provide over half of domestic supply, with hard coal adding another 5.5 GW — a conventional-heavy dispatch stack consistent with near-zero solar output and modest wind generation of 5.9 GW combined onshore and offshore. The day-ahead price of 208.9 EUR/MWh is elevated, reflecting the high marginal cost of gas-fired generation setting the price in combination with significant import requirements. Renewables contribute 30% of domestic generation, carried almost entirely by wind and biomass at this hour.
Grid poem Claude AI
Beneath a starless vault the furnaces breathe their ancient carbon song, towers of lignite rising like iron cathedrals against the void. The wind stirs feebly on distant ridgelines while the grid, hungry and unsated, drinks deep from foreign wires strung across the dark.
Generation mix
Wind onshore 10%
Wind offshore 6%
Biomass 11%
Hydro 3%
Natural gas 22%
Hard coal 15%
Brown coal 32%
30%
Renewable share
5.9 GW
Wind (on + offshore)
0.0 GW
Solar
36.6 GW
Total generation
9.3 GW
Net import
208.9 EUR/MWh
Day-ahead price
15.2°C / 8 km/h
Temp / Wind speed
Open-Meteo, Kassel (51.3°N 9.5°E) · surface estimate from 100 m wind
2.0% / 0.0 W/m²
Cloud cover / Radiation
489
gCO₂/kWh
Image prompt
Brown coal 11.9 GW dominates the left third of the scene as a cluster of massive hyperbolic cooling towers with billowing white-grey steam plumes, lit from below by orange sodium lamps; natural gas 8.2 GW fills the centre-left as two compact CCGT power blocks with tall single exhaust stacks emitting thin heat haze, their metallic casings reflecting amber industrial light; hard coal 5.5 GW appears centre-right as a traditional coal plant with a large rectangular boiler house, conveyor belts, and a tall chimney with faint red aviation warning lights; wind onshore 3.8 GW is rendered as a modest row of three-blade turbines on a low ridgeline in the right background, their nacelles barely visible, blades turning slowly in light wind; wind offshore 2.1 GW is suggested by a distant cluster of turbines on a dark horizon line at far right; biomass 4.0 GW appears as a medium-sized industrial facility with a cylindrical silo and modest stack between the coal plant and the wind turbines; hydro 1.2 GW is a small dam structure in the far background valley, water faintly gleaming. The sky is completely black — it is midnight, no twilight, no sky glow, only a deep navy-black vault with a scattering of faint stars visible through a nearly cloudless 2% cloud cover. The atmosphere feels heavy and oppressive, referencing the extremely high electricity price — a thick humid stillness hangs over the scene, steam plumes barely drifting. Mid-September vegetation: dark deciduous trees with full but late-summer foliage edging the scene, temperature around 15°C suggested by light ground mist in low areas. All structures are illuminated solely by artificial light — sodium-yellow streetlamps, white LED floodlights on plant facades, red blinking tower lights. Painted in the style of a highly detailed 19th-century German Romantic oil painting — rich, dark tonal palette reminiscent of Caspar David Friedrich's nocturnes crossed with Adolph Menzel's industrial realism, visible impasto brushwork, deep atmospheric perspective, meticulous engineering accuracy on every turbine nacelle, cooling tower hyperbolic curve, and lattice transmission tower. No text, no labels.
Grid data: 15 September 2026, 00:00 (Berlin time) · Generated 2026-09-14T22:20 UTC · Download image