Uttarakhand · India · 29.75° N · 78.52° E
Solar position in Kotdwāra
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Kotdwāra — computed for 29.75° N, 78.52° E, 383 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Kotdwāra today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC+5:30
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 05:03 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 05:31 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 05:59 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 06:23 | 103° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 06:56 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 11:59 | 48.5° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:03 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:36 | 257° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:00 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:28 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 18:56 | 18° below |
| Day length | 11 h 13 min | |
Sun path diagram for Kotdwāra
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 83.7° at solar noon in Kotdwāra; on the December solstice only 36.8°. Sunrise swings from 62° ENE in June to 117° ESE in December — a 55° 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 | 07:10 | 12:27 | 17:43 | 10 h 33 min | 40.4° |
| February | 06:50 | 12:29 | 18:09 | 11 h 19 min | 49.7° |
| March | 06:18 | 12:23 | 18:27 | 12 h 09 min | 60.5° |
| April | 05:43 | 12:14 | 18:46 | 13 h 03 min | 72.1° |
| May | 05:19 | 12:12 | 19:05 | 13 h 46 min | 80.5° |
| June | 05:15 | 12:17 | 19:19 | 14 h 04 min | 83.7° |
| July | 05:28 | 12:22 | 19:15 | 13 h 47 min | 80.7° |
| August | 05:46 | 12:19 | 18:50 | 13 h 04 min | 72.3° |
| September | 06:03 | 12:08 | 18:14 | 12 h 11 min | 60.9° |
| October | 06:21 | 12:00 | 17:39 | 11 h 18 min | 49.5° |
| November | 06:45 | 12:01 | 17:17 | 10 h 33 min | 40.3° |
| December | 07:06 | 12:13 | 17:20 | 10 h 14 min | 36.8° |
A year of daylight in Kotdwāra
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 Kotdwāra
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
30°collects the most energy over a year: 1648 kWh per kWp.
21°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 | July kWh/kWp/day | Best ÷ worst month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0° | 1456 | 88% | 3.77 | 2.0× |
| 15° | 1599 | 97% | 3.71 | 1.6× |
| 21° off-grid best | 1630 | 99% | 3.64 | 1.5× |
| 30° year-round best = latitude | 1648 | 100% | 3.48 | 1.5× |
| 45° | 1601 | 97% | 3.07 | 1.7× |
| 60° | 1464 | 89% | 2.53 | 2.1× |
| 70° | 1326 | 80% | 2.11 | 2.4× |
| 90° | 969 | 59% | 1.28 | 3.4× |
A fixed array in Kotdwāra produces the most over a year at 30°. The design month for an off-grid system is July: at 21° it makes 3.64 kWh per kWp a day, 5% more than at 30°, and costs 1% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Kotdwāra at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 30° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 30° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.29 | 4.71 | 4.07 | 3.93 | 11.7 °C |
| February | 4.33 | 5.13 | 4.38 | 4.65 | 14.8 °C |
| March | 5.67 | 5.22 | 4.37 | 5.33 | 20.0 °C |
| April | 6.57 | 4.34 | 3.53 | 5.28 | 26.2 °C |
| May | 6.94 | 3.53 | 2.81 | 4.99 | 30.4 °C |
| June | 6.19 | 2.94 | 2.32 | 4.30 | 31.1 °C |
| July | 4.80 | 2.65 | 2.11 | 3.48 | 28.0 °C |
| August | 4.66 | 2.94 | 2.37 | 3.58 | 26.2 °C |
| September | 5.02 | 3.98 | 3.26 | 4.31 | 24.7 °C |
| October | 5.04 | 5.57 | 4.63 | 5.12 | 21.5 °C |
| November | 4.12 | 5.98 | 5.05 | 4.89 | 17.1 °C |
| December | 3.42 | 5.51 | 4.74 | 4.36 | 13.2 °C |
| Year | 5.00 avg | 4.37 avg | 1326 kWh | 1648 kWh |
Sizing example. To run a 1 kWh-per-day load through July on LiFePO4 batteries (charge controller, battery and inverter losses included) you need about 560 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 340 Wp at 30°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Kotdwāra
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.
3.5 mrow pitch at 70°
3.2 mrow pitch at 30°
How Kotdwāra compares in India
Against the other 3,734 places in India with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
2572ndof 3,735 places in India for sunshine, shared: 5.00 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+5%solar energy a year compared with the average place in India: 1,648 against 1,575 kWh per kWp.
+47 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Mumbai: 14 h 04 min against 13 h 17 min.
30°best year-round tilt here; across India it runs from 8° in Tirunelveli to 33° in Leh.
Of the 3,735 places in India, Balotra gets the most sun (5.73 peak sun hours a day) and Jining the least (3.68); Kotdwāra ranks joint 2572nd. In its darkest month, July, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 2.11 kWh a day here, against 1.70 kWh on average in India. The shortest day lasts 10 h 14 min, −45 min compared with Mumbai.
Solar forecast for Kotdwāra, 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 Kotdwāra
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Places near Kotdwāra
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A free, live card for Kotdwāra: 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.