Valparaiso · Chile · 33.55° S · 71.61° W
Solar position in Cartagena
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Cartagena — computed for 33.55° S, 71.61° W, 82 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Cartagena today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−3
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 05:26 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 05:57 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 06:28 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 06:54 | 105° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 07:28 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:30 | 68.4° high |
| Golden hour starts | 19:33 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 20:07 | 255° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 20:33 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 21:03 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 21:36 | 18° below |
| Day length | 13 h 13 min | |
Sun path diagram for Cartagena
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 33.0° at solar noon in Cartagena; on the December solstice only 79.9°. Sunrise swings from 62° ENE in June to 119° ESE in December — a 57° 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 | 06:57 | 13:57 | 20:57 | 13 h 59 min | 76.2° |
| February | 07:27 | 13:59 | 20:31 | 13 h 04 min | 66.8° |
| March | 07:50 | 13:53 | 19:56 | 12 h 06 min | 56.0° |
| April | 07:13 | 12:44 | 18:16 | 11 h 03 min | 44.4° |
| May | 07:35 | 12:42 | 17:50 | 10 h 15 min | 36.2° |
| June | 07:50 | 12:48 | 17:46 | 9 h 55 min | 33.0° |
| July | 07:45 | 12:53 | 18:00 | 10 h 15 min | 36.1° |
| August | 07:17 | 12:49 | 18:21 | 11 h 04 min | 44.5° |
| September | 07:37 | 13:39 | 19:42 | 12 h 05 min | 55.9° |
| October | 06:57 | 13:31 | 20:04 | 13 h 07 min | 67.3° |
| November | 06:32 | 13:32 | 20:32 | 14 h 01 min | 76.5° |
| December | 06:33 | 13:44 | 20:56 | 14 h 23 min | 79.9° |
A year of daylight in Cartagena
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 Cartagena
Fixed array facing north (azimuth 0°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
28°collects the most energy over a year: 1713 kWh per kWp.
58°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 | June kWh/kWp/day | Best ÷ worst month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0° | 1542 | 90% | 1.85 | 3.5× |
| 15° | 1677 | 98% | 2.46 | 2.6× |
| 28° year-round best | 1713 | 100% | 2.87 | 2.1× |
| 30° | 1712 | 100% | 2.92 | 2.0× |
| 34° = latitude | 1704 | 99% | 3.01 | 1.9× |
| 45° | 1645 | 96% | 3.19 | 1.6× |
| 58° off-grid best | 1510 | 88% | 3.27 | 1.5× |
| 60° | 1484 | 87% | 3.27 | 1.5× |
| 70° | 1329 | 78% | 3.21 | 1.4× |
| 90° | 937 | 55% | 2.82 | 2.4× |
A fixed array in Cartagena produces the most over a year at 28°. The design month for an off-grid system is June: at 58° it makes 3.27 kWh per kWp a day, 14% more than at 28°, and costs 12% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Cartagena at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 28° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 28° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7.84 | 3.84 | 3.20 | 5.94 | 18.9 °C |
| February | 6.91 | 4.52 | 3.79 | 5.76 | 18.7 °C |
| March | 5.68 | 5.10 | 4.30 | 5.34 | 17.7 °C |
| April | 4.11 | 4.98 | 4.25 | 4.42 | 15.3 °C |
| May | 2.73 | 3.89 | 3.34 | 3.16 | 13.3 °C |
| June | 2.31 | 3.71 | 3.21 | 2.87 | 11.5 °C |
| July | 2.60 | 4.06 | 3.53 | 3.20 | 10.7 °C |
| August | 3.38 | 4.37 | 3.79 | 3.79 | 11.0 °C |
| September | 4.72 | 4.71 | 4.06 | 4.71 | 11.9 °C |
| October | 6.09 | 4.50 | 3.86 | 5.39 | 13.5 °C |
| November | 7.42 | 3.97 | 3.36 | 5.87 | 15.6 °C |
| December | 7.97 | 3.59 | 3.01 | 5.93 | 17.4 °C |
| Year | 5.14 avg | 4.27 avg | 1329 kWh | 1713 kWh |
Sizing example. To run a 1 kWh-per-day load through December on LiFePO4 batteries (charge controller, battery and inverter losses included) you need about 390 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 410 Wp at 28°. The steep array is 5% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Cartagena
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.
4.0 mrow pitch at 70°
3.4 mrow pitch at 28°
How Cartagena compares in Chile
Against the other 138 places in Chile with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
62ndof 139 places in Chile for sunshine, shared: 5.14 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+3%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Chile: 1,713 against 1,668 kWh per kWp.
+1 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Santiago: 14 h 23 min against 14 h 23 min.
28°best year-round tilt here; across Chile it runs from 16° in Arica to 43° in Punta Arenas.
Of the 139 places in Chile, Calama gets the most sun (7.19 peak sun hours a day) and Puerto Natales the least (2.73); Cartagena ranks joint 62nd. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 3.01 kWh a day here, against 2.61 kWh on average in Chile. The shortest day lasts 9 h 55 min, ±0 min compared with Santiago.
Solar forecast for Cartagena, 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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Questions about the sun in Cartagena
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Places near Cartagena
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A free, live card for Cartagena: 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.