Brown coal, gas, and large net imports power Germany's evening as wind and solar fade at nightfall.
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Generation mix
Wind onshore 10%
Wind offshore 1%
Solar 1%
Biomass 17%
Hydro 6%
Natural gas 22%
Hard coal 12%
Brown coal 29%
36%
Renewable share
3.1 GW
Wind (on + offshore)
0.3 GW
Solar
26.7 GW
Total generation
-20.1 GW
Net import
157.8 €/MWh
Day-ahead price
13.5°C / 6 km/h
Temp / Wind speed
Open-Meteo, Kassel (51.3°N 9.5°E)
40% / 32.0 W/m²
Cloud cover / Radiation
439
gCOâ‚‚/kWh
Records
#2
Wild Ride
Image prompt
Brown coal 7.8 GW dominates the left third of the scene as a massive lignite power complex with four hyperbolic cooling towers emitting thick white steam plumes lit from below by sodium-orange industrial lights; natural gas 5.9 GW fills the centre-left as a cluster of CCGT plants with tall single exhaust stacks and glowing turbine halls behind chain-link fencing; biomass 4.7 GW appears centre-right as a wood-chip-fired plant with a broad rectangular boiler house, conveyor belts, and a single wide smokestack with faint grey exhaust; hard coal 3.3 GW sits to the right as a coal station with a pair of slender stacks and a dark coal pile visible under floodlights; wind onshore 2.8 GW appears as a handful of three-blade turbines on a low ridge in the far right background, their rotors turning slowly in light breeze, red aviation warning lights blinking; hydro 1.6 GW is suggested by a concrete dam structure in the distant middle-ground with water cascading; wind offshore 0.4 GW is barely hinted at by a tiny silhouette of an offshore turbine on a far horizon line; solar 0.3 GW is essentially absent — no panels visible, no sunlight. The sky is fully dark, deep navy-black, 20:00 in late April — no twilight remains, no sky glow on the horizon, stars partially visible through 40% scattered cloud lit faintly from below by the industrial complex. The atmosphere feels heavy and oppressive reflecting the high electricity price: a thick humid haze hangs over the plants, sodium streetlights cast amber pools on wet asphalt roads between facilities. Spring vegetation — fresh green grass and budding deciduous trees — is barely visible in the artificial light along the edges. High-voltage transmission pylons with bundled conductors stretch across the scene from left to right, symbolizing the massive import flows. Painted in the style of a highly detailed 19th-century German Romantic oil painting — rich impasto brushwork, deep chiaroscuro contrasts, atmospheric sfumato in the steam and haze — yet every turbine nacelle, cooling tower hyperbolic curve, CCGT exhaust stack, and lattice pylon is rendered with meticulous engineering accuracy. No text, no labels.