Yamaguchi · Japan · 34.05° N · 131.57° E
Solar position in Hōfu
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Hōfu — computed for 34.05° N, 131.57° E, 4 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Hōfu today
Sunday, 25 October 2026 · local time UTC+9
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 05:02 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 05:31 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 06:01 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 06:26 | 104° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 07:01 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 11:57 | 43.9° high |
| Golden hour starts | 16:54 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:28 | 256° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 17:54 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:23 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 18:52 | 18° below |
| Day length | 11 h 02 min | |
Sun path diagram for Hōfu
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 79.4° at solar noon in Hōfu; on the December solstice only 32.5°. Sunrise swings from 61° ENE in June to 118° 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 | 07:17 | 12:25 | 17:32 | 10 h 16 min | 36.1° |
| February | 06:52 | 12:27 | 18:02 | 11 h 10 min | 45.4° |
| March | 06:16 | 12:21 | 18:25 | 12 h 09 min | 56.2° |
| April | 05:36 | 12:12 | 18:49 | 13 h 13 min | 67.8° |
| May | 05:08 | 12:10 | 19:12 | 14 h 04 min | 76.1° |
| June | 05:02 | 12:15 | 19:28 | 14 h 26 min | 79.4° |
| July | 05:17 | 12:20 | 19:22 | 14 h 06 min | 76.4° |
| August | 05:39 | 12:16 | 18:54 | 13 h 15 min | 68.1° |
| September | 06:00 | 12:06 | 18:12 | 12 h 12 min | 56.7° |
| October | 06:23 | 11:58 | 17:33 | 11 h 10 min | 45.3° |
| November | 06:51 | 11:59 | 17:07 | 10 h 16 min | 36.1° |
| December | 07:15 | 12:11 | 17:08 | 9 h 53 min | 32.5° |
A year of daylight in Hōfu
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 Hōfu
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
28°collects the most energy over a year: 1242 kWh per kWp.
56°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° | 1123 | 90% | 1.57 | 2.8× |
| 15° | 1215 | 98% | 1.99 | 2.2× |
| 28° year-round best | 1242 | 100% | 2.27 | 1.8× |
| 30° | 1241 | 100% | 2.31 | 1.8× |
| 34° = latitude | 1237 | 100% | 2.37 | 1.7× |
| 45° | 1200 | 97% | 2.48 | 1.6× |
| 56° off-grid best | 1128 | 91% | 2.52 | 1.4× |
| 60° | 1094 | 88% | 2.52 | 1.4× |
| 70° | 991 | 80% | 2.45 | 1.5× |
| 90° | 728 | 59% | 2.14 | 1.9× |
A fixed array in Hōfu produces the most over a year at 28°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 56° it makes 2.52 kWh per kWp a day, 11% more than at 28°, and costs 9% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Hōfu 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 | 2.09 | 2.84 | 2.50 | 2.39 | 6.2 °C |
| February | 2.84 | 3.25 | 2.85 | 3.00 | 7.0 °C |
| March | 3.91 | 3.67 | 3.19 | 3.78 | 9.4 °C |
| April | 4.83 | 3.53 | 3.01 | 4.19 | 13.6 °C |
| May | 5.27 | 3.13 | 2.61 | 4.18 | 17.8 °C |
| June | 4.64 | 2.64 | 2.15 | 3.52 | 21.5 °C |
| July | 4.78 | 2.75 | 2.22 | 3.61 | 25.3 °C |
| August | 5.08 | 3.37 | 2.72 | 4.05 | 26.6 °C |
| September | 4.07 | 3.43 | 2.82 | 3.56 | 23.5 °C |
| October | 3.45 | 3.77 | 3.16 | 3.44 | 18.8 °C |
| November | 2.52 | 3.39 | 2.90 | 2.81 | 13.8 °C |
| December | 1.94 | 2.82 | 2.45 | 2.27 | 8.5 °C |
| Year | 3.79 avg | 3.21 avg | 991 kWh | 1242 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 550 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 520 Wp at 28°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Hōfu
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 Hōfu compares in Japan
Against the other 1,215 places in Japan with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
807thof 1,216 places in Japan for sunshine, shared: 3.79 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−3%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Japan: 1,242 against 1,284 kWh per kWp.
−9 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Tokyo: 14 h 26 min against 14 h 35 min.
28°best year-round tilt here; across Japan it runs from 17° in Miyakojima to 41° in Kushiro.
Of the 1,216 places in Japan, Miyakojima gets the most sun (4.34 peak sun hours a day) and Wakkanai and one other place the least (3.17); Hōfu ranks joint 807th. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 2.15 kWh a day here, against 2.14 kWh on average in Japan. The shortest day lasts 9 h 53 min, +9 min compared with Tokyo.
Solar forecast for Hōfu, 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 Hōfu
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Places near Hōfu
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A free, live card for Hōfu: 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.