Grid Poet — 18 March 2026, 04:00
Wind (25.6 GW) and brown coal (11.7 GW) anchor overnight supply as gas and hard coal fill heating-driven demand at 48.5 GW.
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Grid analysis Claude AI
At 04:00 on a clear, cold March night, the German grid draws 48.5 GW against 52.3 GW of domestic generation, yielding a net export of approximately 3.8 GW. Wind contributes a strong 25.6 GW combined (onshore 20.3, offshore 5.3), forming the backbone of overnight supply at 48.9% of generation. Despite this healthy wind output, the residual load of 22.9 GW is met by a substantial thermal fleet: brown coal at 11.7 GW, natural gas at 5.6 GW, and hard coal at 4.2 GW, together accounting for 41.1% of generation. The day-ahead price of 88.8 EUR/MWh is elevated for a nighttime hour, likely reflecting gas-price pass-through and the cost of keeping coal units dispatched against overnight heating demand at 2.2 °C.
Grid poem Claude AI
Beneath a vault of frozen stars the turbines hum their iron hymn, while ancient lignite fires glow in the valley like the embers of a continent refusing sleep. The wind carries two truths at once—the promise of turning blades and the stubborn heat of coal.
Generation mix
Wind onshore 39%
Wind offshore 10%
Biomass 8%
Hydro 2%
Natural gas 11%
Hard coal 8%
Brown coal 22%
59%
Renewable share
25.6 GW
Wind (on + offshore)
0.0 GW
Solar
52.3 GW
Total generation
+3.8 GW
Net export
88.8 €/MWh
Day-ahead price
2.2°C / 3 km/h
Temp / Wind speed
Open-Meteo, Kassel (51.3°N 9.5°E)
0% / 0.0 W/m²
Cloud cover / Radiation
296
gCO₂/kWh
Image prompt
Brown coal 11.7 GW dominates the left third of the scene as a cluster of massive hyperbolic cooling towers with thick white steam plumes rising into the black night sky, their bases lit by orange sodium lamps; hard coal 4.2 GW appears as a smaller coal-fired power station behind them with a single square chimney and red aviation lights; natural gas 5.6 GW fills the centre-left as two compact CCGT plants with tall slender exhaust stacks venting thin vapour, their turbine halls glowing faintly from interior lighting; wind onshore 20.3 GW spans the entire right half and background as dozens of three-blade turbines on lattice and tubular towers stretching across rolling farmland, their nacelle lights blinking red in unison; wind offshore 5.3 GW is suggested by a distant row of turbines on the far-right horizon above a barely visible dark sea; biomass 4.0 GW appears as a modest wood-chip plant with a short smokestack and steam wisp near the centre; hydro 1.1 GW is a small run-of-river weir in the foreground with dark water reflecting sodium lamplight. The sky is completely black with crisp winter stars and no trace of twilight or dawn glow. The temperature is near freezing—thin frost coats the bare March fields and leafless trees. Ground-level fog threads between the cooling towers. The atmosphere is heavy and oppressive, conveying the high electricity price. Highly detailed oil painting in the tradition of 19th-century German Romantic landscape painters—rich dark palette of Prussian blue, lamp-black, and warm amber from artificial lights, visible impasto brushwork, dramatic atmospheric depth—with meticulous engineering accuracy on every turbine nacelle, cooling tower curvature, and CCGT exhaust detail. No text, no labels.
Grid data: 18 March 2026, 04:00 (Berlin time) · Generated 2026-03-18T05:56 UTC · Download image