Medina Region · Saudi Arabia · 26.61° N · 37.92° E
Solar position in Al-`Ula
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Al-`Ula — computed for 26.61° N, 37.92° E, 692 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Al-`Ula today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC+3
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 05:14 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 05:41 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 06:09 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 06:32 | 103° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 07:04 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 12:12 | 51.6° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:20 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:52 | 257° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:15 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:42 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 19:09 | 18° below |
| Day length | 11 h 19 min | |
Sun path diagram for Al-`Ula
Where the sun stands in the sky: the centre is straight overhead, the outer ring is the horizon. Numbers mark local clock hours.
- June solstice
- Equinox
- December solstice
- Today
On the June solstice the sun reaches 86.8° at solar noon in Al-`Ula; on the December solstice only 40.0°. Sunrise swings from 63° ENE in June to 116° ESE in December — a 53° arc along the horizon.
Sunrise, sunset and sun height by month
Values for the 21st of each month, local clock time including daylight saving time.
| Month | Sunrise | Solar noon | Sunset | Day length | Noon elevation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 07:17 | 12:39 | 18:02 | 10 h 45 min | 43.5° |
| February | 06:59 | 12:42 | 18:24 | 11 h 25 min | 52.9° |
| March | 06:31 | 12:35 | 18:39 | 12 h 09 min | 63.7° |
| April | 05:59 | 12:27 | 18:55 | 12 h 56 min | 75.3° |
| May | 05:38 | 12:24 | 19:11 | 13 h 33 min | 83.6° |
| June | 05:35 | 12:30 | 19:24 | 13 h 49 min | 86.8° |
| July | 05:47 | 12:34 | 19:21 | 13 h 34 min | 83.8° |
| August | 06:03 | 12:31 | 18:59 | 12 h 57 min | 75.4° |
| September | 06:16 | 12:21 | 18:26 | 12 h 10 min | 64.0° |
| October | 06:30 | 12:12 | 17:54 | 11 h 24 min | 52.6° |
| November | 06:51 | 12:14 | 17:36 | 10 h 44 min | 43.5° |
| December | 07:12 | 12:26 | 17:40 | 10 h 28 min | 40.0° |
A year of daylight in Al-`Ula
Each column is one day of 2026. Bright: sun above the horizon; soft: civil twilight; line: solar noon. Steps are daylight saving time changes.
Best solar panel angle in Al-`Ula
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
25°collects the most energy over a year: 1987 kWh per kWp.
35°gives the most in the darkest month — the one an off-grid system is sized for.
- Yearly energy
- Worst-month energy
| Tilt | kWh/kWp per year | Share of best year | December kWh/kWp/day | Best ÷ worst month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0° | 1830 | 92% | 3.27 | 2.0× |
| 15° | 1964 | 99% | 4.22 | 1.4× |
| 25° year-round best | 1987 | 100% | 4.70 | 1.3× |
| 27° = latitude | 1986 | 100% | 4.78 | 1.2× |
| 30° | 1979 | 100% | 4.89 | 1.2× |
| 35° off-grid best | 1959 | 99% | 5.05 | 1.2× |
| 45° | 1879 | 95% | 5.26 | 1.3× |
| 60° | 1669 | 84% | 5.30 | 1.7× |
| 70° | 1477 | 74% | 5.14 | 2.3× |
| 90° | 1018 | 51% | 4.40 | 4.5× |
A fixed array in Al-`Ula produces the most over a year at 25°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 35° it makes 5.05 kWh per kWp a day, 7% more than at 25°, and costs 1% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Al-`Ula at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 25° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 25° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.37 | 6.23 | 5.37 | 5.04 | 11.9 °C |
| February | 5.27 | 5.96 | 5.09 | 5.44 | 14.4 °C |
| March | 6.45 | 5.58 | 4.70 | 5.93 | 18.3 °C |
| April | 7.24 | 4.45 | 3.67 | 5.86 | 22.7 °C |
| May | 7.77 | 3.50 | 2.83 | 5.68 | 27.3 °C |
| June | 8.28 | 2.98 | 2.36 | 5.67 | 30.5 °C |
| July | 8.01 | 3.12 | 2.47 | 5.57 | 31.6 °C |
| August | 7.40 | 3.89 | 3.09 | 5.54 | 32.2 °C |
| September | 6.67 | 5.01 | 4.02 | 5.58 | 30.2 °C |
| October | 5.56 | 5.73 | 4.69 | 5.29 | 25.7 °C |
| November | 4.60 | 6.19 | 5.20 | 5.04 | 18.7 °C |
| December | 4.02 | 6.01 | 5.14 | 4.70 | 13.9 °C |
| Year | 6.31 avg | 4.88 avg | 1477 kWh | 1987 kWh |
Sizing example. To run a 1 kWh-per-day load through June on LiFePO4 batteries (charge controller, battery and inverter losses included) you need about 500 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 250 Wp at 25°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Al-`Ula
Distance between rows of 2 m long panels (slope length) so that no row shades the next between 10:00 and 14:00 solar time on the winter solstice.
3.2 mrow pitch at 70°
2.9 mrow pitch at 25°
How Al-`Ula compares in Saudi Arabia
Against the other 95 places in Saudi Arabia with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
10thof 96 places in Saudi Arabia for sunshine: 6.31 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+6%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Saudi Arabia: 1,987 against 1,871 kWh per kWp.
+22 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Jeddah: 13 h 49 min against 13 h 27 min.
25°best year-round tilt here; across Saudi Arabia it runs from 17° in Şabyā to 28° in Ţurayf.
Of the 96 places in Saudi Arabia, Al Mash‘ilīyah gets the most sun (6.60 peak sun hours a day) and Al Khafjī the least (5.24); Al-`Ula ranks 10th. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 2.37 kWh a day here, against 2.26 kWh on average in Saudi Arabia. The shortest day lasts 10 h 28 min, −21 min compared with Jeddah.
Solar forecast for Al-`Ula, next 48 hours
Expected output of 1 kWp at 70°, computed from the ICON-EU weather model of the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), Europe.
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A free, live card for Al-`Ula: where the sun is right now on today's path, a countdown to sunset or sunrise, the daylight change, the moon phase at night and the best panel angle.
Sun positions: NREL Solar Position Algorithm. Climate: NASA POWER monthly climatology (NASA Langley Research Center). Forecast: Deutscher Wetterdienst, ICON-EU (CC BY 4.0), processed. Places: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Time zones: IANA. Sources and licences.