South Holland · The Netherlands · 52.02° N · 4.71° E
Solar position in Gouda
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Gouda — computed for 52.02° N, 4.71° E, 1 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Gouda today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC+2
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 06:28 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 07:07 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 07:46 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 08:21 | 108° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 09:09 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:25 | 26.2° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:39 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:28 | 252° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 19:03 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:42 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 20:21 | 18° below |
| Day length | 10 h 07 min | |
Sun path diagram for Gouda
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 61.4° at solar noon in Gouda; on the December solstice only 14.6°. Sunrise swings from 48° NE in June to 129° SE in December — a 81° 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 | 08:36 | 12:52 | 17:09 | 8 h 33 min | 18.2° |
| February | 07:44 | 12:55 | 18:06 | 10 h 22 min | 27.6° |
| March | 06:41 | 12:48 | 18:55 | 12 h 14 min | 38.3° |
| April | 06:31 | 13:40 | 20:49 | 14 h 17 min | 50.0° |
| May | 05:38 | 13:37 | 21:37 | 15 h 59 min | 58.2° |
| June | 05:20 | 13:42 | 22:05 | 16 h 44 min | 61.4° |
| July | 05:46 | 13:47 | 21:47 | 16 h 01 min | 58.4° |
| August | 06:34 | 13:44 | 20:52 | 14 h 18 min | 50.0° |
| September | 07:25 | 13:33 | 19:42 | 12 h 17 min | 38.6° |
| October | 08:16 | 13:25 | 18:34 | 10 h 18 min | 27.2° |
| November | 08:11 | 12:26 | 16:42 | 8 h 31 min | 18.1° |
| December | 08:47 | 12:39 | 16:31 | 7 h 44 min | 14.6° |
A year of daylight in Gouda
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 Gouda
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
39°collects the most energy over a year: 1088 kWh per kWp.
72°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° | 890 | 82% | 0.41 | 11.0× |
| 15° | 1012 | 93% | 0.65 | 7.2× |
| 30° | 1078 | 99% | 0.85 | 5.4× |
| 39° year-round best | 1088 | 100% | 0.95 | 4.7× |
| 45° | 1083 | 100% | 1.00 | 4.4× |
| 52° = latitude | 1065 | 98% | 1.05 | 4.0× |
| 60° | 1029 | 95% | 1.09 | 3.7× |
| 70° | 961 | 88% | 1.11 | 3.3× |
| 72° off-grid best | 945 | 87% | 1.11 | 3.3× |
| 90° | 762 | 70% | 1.06 | 2.7× |
A fixed array in Gouda produces the most over a year at 39°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 72° it makes 1.11 kWh per kWp a day, 17% more than at 39°, and costs 13% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Gouda at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 39° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 39° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0.73 | 1.53 | 1.35 | 1.17 | 3.3 °C |
| February | 1.42 | 2.38 | 2.10 | 1.98 | 3.5 °C |
| March | 2.69 | 3.47 | 3.06 | 3.17 | 5.7 °C |
| April | 4.30 | 4.24 | 3.69 | 4.28 | 9.4 °C |
| May | 5.16 | 4.10 | 3.50 | 4.48 | 13.0 °C |
| June | 5.46 | 3.93 | 3.31 | 4.43 | 16.2 °C |
| July | 5.25 | 3.93 | 3.28 | 4.32 | 18.3 °C |
| August | 4.39 | 3.89 | 3.26 | 3.95 | 18.3 °C |
| September | 3.22 | 3.70 | 3.14 | 3.40 | 15.5 °C |
| October | 1.84 | 2.76 | 2.37 | 2.32 | 11.6 °C |
| November | 0.87 | 1.65 | 1.42 | 1.28 | 7.5 °C |
| December | 0.56 | 1.28 | 1.11 | 0.95 | 4.3 °C |
| Year | 3.00 avg | 3.07 avg | 961 kWh | 1088 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 1,060 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 1,250 Wp at 39°. The steep array is 15% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Gouda
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.
10.0 mrow pitch at 70°
7.8 mrow pitch at 39°
How Gouda compares in the Netherlands
Against the other 231 places in the Netherlands with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
75thof 232 places in the Netherlands for sunshine, shared: 3.00 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
±0%solar energy a year compared with the average place in the Netherlands: 1,088 against 1,085 kWh per kWp.
+1 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Rotterdam: 16 h 44 min against 16 h 43 min.
39°best year-round tilt here; across the Netherlands it runs from 38° in Middelburg to 40° in Enschede.
Of the 232 places in the Netherlands, Vlissingen and one other place get the most sun (3.12 peak sun hours a day) and Delfzijl and 2 other places the least (2.88); Gouda ranks joint 75th. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.11 kWh a day here, against 1.12 kWh on average in the Netherlands. The shortest day lasts 7 h 44 min, −1 min compared with Rotterdam.
Solar forecast for Gouda, 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 Gouda
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A free, live card for Gouda: 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.