Northern Province · Sri Lanka · 9.67° N · 80.01° E
Solar position in Jaffna
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Jaffna — computed for 9.67° N, 80.01° E, 7 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Jaffna today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC+5:30
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 04:48 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 05:12 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 05:37 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 05:58 | 102° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 06:27 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 11:54 | 68.6° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:21 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:49 | 258° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:10 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:35 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 19:00 | 18° below |
| Day length | 11 h 51 min | |
Sun path diagram for Jaffna
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 76.2° at solar noon in Jaffna; on the December solstice only 56.9°. Sunrise swings from 66° ENE in June to 114° ESE in December — a 48° 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 | 06:31 | 12:21 | 18:10 | 11 h 39 min | 60.5° |
| February | 06:27 | 12:23 | 18:19 | 11 h 52 min | 69.8° |
| March | 06:13 | 12:17 | 18:20 | 12 h 07 min | 80.6° |
| April | 05:57 | 12:08 | 18:20 | 12 h 23 min | 87.8° |
| May | 05:48 | 12:06 | 18:24 | 12 h 36 min | 79.5° |
| June | 05:51 | 12:11 | 18:32 | 12 h 41 min | 76.2° |
| July | 05:58 | 12:16 | 18:34 | 12 h 36 min | 79.2° |
| August | 06:01 | 12:13 | 18:24 | 12 h 23 min | 87.6° |
| September | 05:59 | 12:03 | 18:06 | 12 h 07 min | 81.0° |
| October | 05:58 | 11:54 | 17:50 | 11 h 52 min | 69.6° |
| November | 06:06 | 11:55 | 17:45 | 11 h 39 min | 60.4° |
| December | 06:21 | 12:07 | 17:54 | 11 h 34 min | 56.9° |
A year of daylight in Jaffna
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 Jaffna
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: 1594 kWh per kWp.
26°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 | November kWh/kWp/day | Best ÷ worst month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0° | 1581 | 99% | 3.31 | 1.5× |
| 8° year-round best | 1594 | 100% | 3.48 | 1.5× |
| 10° = latitude | 1593 | 100% | 3.51 | 1.5× |
| 15° | 1585 | 99% | 3.58 | 1.4× |
| 26° off-grid best | 1531 | 96% | 3.66 | 1.4× |
| 30° | 1501 | 94% | 3.67 | 1.4× |
| 45° | 1335 | 84% | 3.55 | 1.8× |
| 60° | 1101 | 69% | 3.25 | 2.4× |
| 70° | 922 | 58% | 2.95 | 3.1× |
| 90° | 618 | 39% | 2.15 | 2.9× |
A fixed array in Jaffna produces the most over a year at 8°. The design month for an off-grid system is November: at 26° it makes 3.66 kWh per kWp a day, 5% more than at 8°, and costs 4% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Jaffna 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 | 5.06 | 4.81 | 3.93 | 4.29 | 25.9 °C |
| February | 5.89 | 4.68 | 3.82 | 4.88 | 26.7 °C |
| March | 6.42 | 3.86 | 3.11 | 5.14 | 28.3 °C |
| April | 6.30 | 2.57 | 2.04 | 4.88 | 29.8 °C |
| May | 5.88 | 1.87 | 1.46 | 4.46 | 29.8 °C |
| June | 5.82 | 1.64 | 1.27 | 4.37 | 29.4 °C |
| July | 5.65 | 1.77 | 1.39 | 4.28 | 29.1 °C |
| August | 5.81 | 2.23 | 1.76 | 4.47 | 28.8 °C |
| September | 5.79 | 3.10 | 2.48 | 4.58 | 28.6 °C |
| October | 5.07 | 3.62 | 2.92 | 4.11 | 28.2 °C |
| November | 4.20 | 3.63 | 2.95 | 3.48 | 27.3 °C |
| December | 4.17 | 4.00 | 3.26 | 3.51 | 26.3 °C |
| Year | 5.50 avg | 3.14 avg | 922 kWh | 1594 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 930 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 340 Wp at 8°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Jaffna
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.
2.1 mrow pitch at 70°
2.2 mrow pitch at 8°
How Jaffna compares in Sri Lanka
Against the other 59 places in Sri Lanka with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
4thof 60 places in Sri Lanka for sunshine, shared: 5.50 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+2%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Sri Lanka: 1,594 against 1,564 kWh per kWp.
+10 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Colombo: 12 h 41 min against 12 h 32 min.
8°best year-round tilt here; across Sri Lanka it runs from 4° in Ampara to 8° in Jaffna.
Of the 60 places in Sri Lanka, Chilaw gets the most sun (5.56 peak sun hours a day) and Ratnapura the least (5.12); Jaffna ranks joint 4th. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.27 kWh a day here, against 1.22 kWh on average in Sri Lanka. The shortest day lasts 11 h 34 min, −10 min compared with Colombo.
Solar forecast for Jaffna, next 48 hours
Expected output of 1 kWp at 70°, computed from the ICON-EU weather model of the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), Europe.
Loading the latest forecast…
Questions about the sun in Jaffna
What is the best solar panel angle in Jaffna?
What time is sunrise and sunset in Jaffna today?
How many peak sun hours does Jaffna get?
How high does the sun get in Jaffna?
Is Jaffna a good place for solar panels?
Places near Jaffna
Put this on your site
A free, live card for Jaffna: 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.