Occitanie · France · 43.64° N · 3.90° E
Solar position in Castelnau-le-Lez
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Castelnau-le-Lez — computed for 43.64° N, 3.90° E, 59 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Castelnau-le-Lez today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC+2
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 06:33 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 07:06 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 07:40 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 08:09 | 106° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 08:49 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:28 | 34.5° high |
| Golden hour starts | 18:06 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:46 | 254° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 19:16 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:49 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 20:22 | 18° below |
| Day length | 10 h 37 min | |
Sun path diagram for Castelnau-le-Lez
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 69.8° at solar noon in Castelnau-le-Lez; on the December solstice only 23.0°. Sunrise swings from 56° NE in June to 122° ESE in December — a 67° 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 | 08:11 | 12:55 | 17:40 | 9 h 30 min | 26.6° |
| February | 07:34 | 12:58 | 18:22 | 10 h 48 min | 35.9° |
| March | 06:46 | 12:51 | 18:57 | 12 h 12 min | 46.7° |
| April | 06:52 | 13:43 | 20:34 | 13 h 43 min | 58.3° |
| May | 06:13 | 13:41 | 21:08 | 14 h 55 min | 66.6° |
| June | 06:02 | 13:46 | 21:29 | 15 h 27 min | 69.8° |
| July | 06:22 | 13:50 | 21:18 | 14 h 57 min | 66.8° |
| August | 06:55 | 13:47 | 20:38 | 13 h 43 min | 58.4° |
| September | 07:30 | 13:37 | 19:43 | 12 h 14 min | 47.0° |
| October | 08:05 | 13:28 | 18:51 | 10 h 46 min | 35.6° |
| November | 07:45 | 12:30 | 17:14 | 9 h 28 min | 26.4° |
| December | 08:14 | 12:42 | 17:10 | 8 h 56 min | 23.0° |
A year of daylight in Castelnau-le-Lez
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 Castelnau-le-Lez
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
36°collects the most energy over a year: 1492 kWh per kWp.
67°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° | 1244 | 83% | 1.15 | 5.0× |
| 15° | 1406 | 94% | 1.74 | 3.3× |
| 30° | 1485 | 100% | 2.22 | 2.5× |
| 36° year-round best | 1492 | 100% | 2.38 | 2.3× |
| 44° = latitude | 1479 | 99% | 2.55 | 2.0× |
| 45° | 1476 | 99% | 2.57 | 2.0× |
| 60° | 1381 | 93% | 2.74 | 1.6× |
| 67° off-grid best | 1309 | 88% | 2.76 | 1.5× |
| 70° | 1274 | 85% | 2.76 | 1.5× |
| 90° | 971 | 65% | 2.57 | 1.6× |
A fixed array in Castelnau-le-Lez produces the most over a year at 36°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 67° it makes 2.76 kWh per kWp a day, 16% more than at 36°, and costs 12% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Castelnau-le-Lez at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 36° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 36° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 1.68 | 3.29 | 2.90 | 2.57 | 5.9 °C |
| February | 2.64 | 4.10 | 3.62 | 3.49 | 6.2 °C |
| March | 3.87 | 4.55 | 3.96 | 4.29 | 9.3 °C |
| April | 5.06 | 4.39 | 3.78 | 4.72 | 12.5 °C |
| May | 6.09 | 4.17 | 3.52 | 4.99 | 16.2 °C |
| June | 7.04 | 4.19 | 3.47 | 5.32 | 20.9 °C |
| July | 7.06 | 4.39 | 3.60 | 5.39 | 23.6 °C |
| August | 6.04 | 4.70 | 3.87 | 5.14 | 23.3 °C |
| September | 4.60 | 4.85 | 4.07 | 4.63 | 19.3 °C |
| October | 2.86 | 3.95 | 3.36 | 3.39 | 15.3 °C |
| November | 1.89 | 3.43 | 2.98 | 2.71 | 10.3 °C |
| December | 1.47 | 3.14 | 2.76 | 2.38 | 6.8 °C |
| Year | 4.20 avg | 4.09 avg | 1274 kWh | 1492 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 430 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 500 Wp at 36°. The steep array is 14% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Castelnau-le-Lez
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.
5.9 mrow pitch at 70°
4.9 mrow pitch at 36°
How Castelnau-le-Lez compares in France
Against the other 656 places in France with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
73rdof 657 places in France for sunshine, shared: 4.20 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+18%solar energy a year compared with the average place in France: 1,492 against 1,261 kWh per kWp.
−44 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Paris: 15 h 27 min against 16 h 11 min.
36°best year-round tilt here; across France it runs from 33° in Ajaccio to 39° in Lille.
Of the 657 places in France, Marseille 12 and 5 other places get the most sun (4.46 peak sun hours a day) and Maubeuge and one other place the least (3.10); Castelnau-le-Lez ranks joint 73rd. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 2.76 kWh a day here, against 1.86 kWh on average in France. The shortest day lasts 8 h 56 min, +41 min compared with Paris.
Solar forecast for Castelnau-le-Lez, 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 Castelnau-le-Lez: 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.