Norte de Santander Department · Colombia · 7.91° N · 72.50° W
Solar position in Cúcuta
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Cúcuta — computed for 7.91° N, 72.50° W, 298 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Cúcuta today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−5
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 04:26 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 04:51 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 05:16 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 05:37 | 102° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 06:05 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 11:34 | 70.2° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:02 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:30 | 258° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 17:52 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:16 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 18:41 | 18° below |
| Day length | 11 h 53 min | |
Sun path diagram for Cúcuta
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 74.5° at solar noon in Cúcuta; on the December solstice only 58.7°. Sunrise swings from 66° ENE in June to 114° ESE in December — a 47° 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 | 06:09 | 12:01 | 17:53 | 11 h 44 min | 62.3° |
| February | 06:06 | 12:03 | 18:01 | 11 h 55 min | 71.7° |
| March | 05:53 | 11:57 | 18:00 | 12 h 07 min | 82.5° |
| April | 05:38 | 11:48 | 17:58 | 12 h 20 min | 85.9° |
| May | 05:31 | 11:46 | 18:02 | 12 h 31 min | 77.6° |
| June | 05:34 | 11:51 | 18:09 | 12 h 35 min | 74.5° |
| July | 05:41 | 11:56 | 18:11 | 12 h 31 min | 77.5° |
| August | 05:42 | 11:53 | 18:03 | 12 h 20 min | 86.0° |
| September | 05:39 | 11:42 | 17:46 | 12 h 07 min | 82.6° |
| October | 05:37 | 11:34 | 17:31 | 11 h 55 min | 71.2° |
| November | 05:43 | 11:35 | 17:27 | 11 h 44 min | 62.1° |
| December | 05:58 | 11:48 | 17:38 | 11 h 40 min | 58.7° |
A year of daylight in Cúcuta
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 Cúcuta
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
8°collects the most energy over a year: 1366 kWh per kWp.
1°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 | April kWh/kWp/day | Best ÷ worst month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0° | 1355 | 99% | 3.39 | 1.2× |
| 1° off-grid best | 1358 | 99% | 3.39 | 1.2× |
| 8° year-round best = latitude | 1366 | 100% | 3.35 | 1.3× |
| 15° | 1358 | 99% | 3.27 | 1.3× |
| 30° | 1288 | 94% | 2.99 | 1.4× |
| 45° | 1151 | 84% | 2.56 | 1.8× |
| 60° | 958 | 70% | 2.02 | 2.4× |
| 70° | 812 | 59% | 1.61 | 2.8× |
| 90° | 561 | 41% | 1.02 | 2.5× |
A fixed array in Cúcuta produces the most over a year at 8°. The design month for an off-grid system is April: at 1° it makes 3.39 kWh per kWp a day, 1% more than at 8°, and costs 1% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Cúcuta at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 8° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 8° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.44 | 4.07 | 3.39 | 3.81 | 21.0 °C |
| February | 4.60 | 3.47 | 2.88 | 3.85 | 21.8 °C |
| March | 4.20 | 2.54 | 2.08 | 3.42 | 22.3 °C |
| April | 4.21 | 2.00 | 1.61 | 3.35 | 22.3 °C |
| May | 4.61 | 1.71 | 1.37 | 3.61 | 22.2 °C |
| June | 4.65 | 1.50 | 1.20 | 3.60 | 21.9 °C |
| July | 4.77 | 1.52 | 1.21 | 3.70 | 21.8 °C |
| August | 5.06 | 1.92 | 1.55 | 4.00 | 22.3 °C |
| September | 5.18 | 2.74 | 2.24 | 4.19 | 22.4 °C |
| October | 4.88 | 3.39 | 2.80 | 4.05 | 21.7 °C |
| November | 4.33 | 3.65 | 3.03 | 3.66 | 21.1 °C |
| December | 4.26 | 4.03 | 3.36 | 3.67 | 20.9 °C |
| Year | 4.60 avg | 2.71 avg | 812 kWh | 1366 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 990 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 350 Wp at 8°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Cúcuta
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.
2.0 mrow pitch at 70°
2.2 mrow pitch at 8°
How Cúcuta compares in Colombia
Against the other 316 places in Colombia with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
192ndof 317 places in Colombia for sunshine, shared: 4.60 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−3%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Colombia: 1,366 against 1,407 kWh per kWp.
+12 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Bogotá: 12 h 35 min against 12 h 23 min.
8°best year-round tilt here; across Colombia it runs from 0° in Puerto Leguízamo to 13° in San Andrés.
Of the 317 places in Colombia, Santa Marta and 3 other places get the most sun (5.54 peak sun hours a day) and Ipiales the least (3.81); Cúcuta ranks joint 192nd. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.20 kWh a day here, against 1.18 kWh on average in Colombia. The shortest day lasts 11 h 40 min, −12 min compared with Bogotá.
Solar forecast for Cúcuta, 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 Cúcuta
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A free, live card for Cúcuta: 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.