Southland · New Zealand · 46.40° S · 168.35° E
Solar position in Invercargill
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Invercargill — computed for 46.40° S, 168.35° E, 6 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Invercargill today
Sunday, 25 October 2026 · local time UTC+13
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 04:39 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 05:22 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 06:02 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 06:34 | 108° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 07:15 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:30 | 55.6° high |
| Golden hour starts | 19:46 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 20:27 | 251° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 21:00 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 21:39 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 22:23 | 18° below |
| Day length | 13 h 54 min | |
Sun path diagram for Invercargill
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 20.2° at solar noon in Invercargill; on the December solstice only 67.0°. Sunrise swings from 56° NE in June to 126° SE in December — a 70° 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 | 06:22 | 13:57 | 21:32 | 15 h 10 min | 63.5° |
| February | 07:09 | 14:00 | 20:50 | 13 h 41 min | 54.2° |
| March | 07:49 | 13:53 | 19:57 | 12 h 08 min | 43.4° |
| April | 07:30 | 12:45 | 17:59 | 10 h 29 min | 31.8° |
| May | 08:08 | 12:42 | 17:17 | 9 h 10 min | 23.5° |
| June | 08:30 | 12:48 | 17:05 | 8 h 35 min | 20.2° |
| July | 08:20 | 12:53 | 17:26 | 9 h 06 min | 23.1° |
| August | 07:37 | 12:50 | 18:02 | 10 h 25 min | 31.5° |
| September | 06:38 | 12:40 | 18:41 | 12 h 03 min | 42.8° |
| October | 06:41 | 13:31 | 20:22 | 13 h 41 min | 54.2° |
| November | 05:57 | 13:32 | 21:07 | 15 h 10 min | 63.5° |
| December | 05:50 | 13:44 | 21:38 | 15 h 49 min | 67.0° |
A year of daylight in Invercargill
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 Invercargill
Fixed array facing north (azimuth 0°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
38°collects the most energy over a year: 1260 kWh per kWp.
69°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° | 1040 | 83% | 0.80 | 6.3× |
| 15° | 1178 | 94% | 1.23 | 4.2× |
| 30° | 1250 | 99% | 1.58 | 3.2× |
| 38° year-round best | 1260 | 100% | 1.73 | 2.8× |
| 45° | 1251 | 99% | 1.84 | 2.5× |
| 46° = latitude | 1249 | 99% | 1.85 | 2.5× |
| 60° | 1182 | 94% | 1.98 | 2.0× |
| 69° off-grid best | 1109 | 88% | 2.00 | 1.8× |
| 70° | 1099 | 87% | 2.00 | 1.8× |
| 90° | 860 | 68% | 1.88 | 1.5× |
A fixed array in Invercargill produces the most over a year at 38°. The design month for an off-grid system is June: at 69° it makes 2.00 kWh per kWp a day, 15% more than at 38°, and costs 12% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Invercargill at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 38° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 38° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.80 | 4.00 | 3.41 | 4.72 | 13.8 °C |
| February | 5.00 | 4.22 | 3.60 | 4.51 | 13.8 °C |
| March | 3.64 | 3.91 | 3.35 | 3.75 | 12.9 °C |
| April | 2.32 | 3.29 | 2.84 | 2.84 | 11.1 °C |
| May | 1.38 | 2.53 | 2.19 | 2.00 | 9.2 °C |
| June | 1.05 | 2.29 | 2.00 | 1.73 | 7.3 °C |
| July | 1.23 | 2.53 | 2.22 | 1.96 | 6.7 °C |
| August | 2.00 | 3.22 | 2.82 | 2.70 | 7.4 °C |
| September | 3.15 | 3.79 | 3.30 | 3.52 | 8.6 °C |
| October | 4.48 | 4.13 | 3.59 | 4.30 | 9.6 °C |
| November | 5.47 | 4.02 | 3.46 | 4.63 | 11.0 °C |
| December | 6.06 | 3.98 | 3.40 | 4.82 | 12.9 °C |
| Year | 3.46 avg | 3.49 avg | 1099 kWh | 1260 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 590 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 680 Wp at 38°. The steep array is 13% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Invercargill
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.
6.8 mrow pitch at 70°
5.6 mrow pitch at 38°
How Invercargill compares in New Zealand
Against the other 46 places in New Zealand with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
47thof 47 places in New Zealand for sunshine: 3.46 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−13%solar energy a year compared with the average place in New Zealand: 1,260 against 1,455 kWh per kWp.
+1 h 07 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Auckland: 15 h 49 min against 14 h 42 min.
38°best year-round tilt here; across New Zealand it runs from 30° in Whangarei to 39° in Dunedin.
Invercargill gets the least sun of the 47 places in New Zealand (3.46 peak sun hours a day); the sunniest is Whangarei with 4.36. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 2.00 kWh a day here, against 2.77 kWh on average in New Zealand. The shortest day lasts 8 h 35 min, −1 h 03 min compared with Auckland.
Solar forecast for Invercargill, 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 Invercargill
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A free, live card for Invercargill: 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.