Morobe Province · Papua New Guinea · 6.72° S · 147.00° E
Solar position in Lae
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Lae — computed for 6.72° S, 147.00° E, 44 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Lae today
Sunday, 25 October 2026 · local time UTC+10
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 04:35 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 05:00 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 05:25 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 05:47 | 102° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 06:15 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 11:56 | 84.7° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:37 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:05 | 258° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:26 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:51 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 19:16 | 18° below |
| Day length | 12 h 18 min | |
Sun path diagram for Lae
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 59.8° at solar noon in Lae; on the December solstice only 73.3°. Sunrise swings from 66° ENE in June to 114° ESE in December — a 47° 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 | 06:09 | 12:23 | 18:36 | 12 h 27 min | 76.8° |
| February | 06:17 | 12:25 | 18:34 | 12 h 17 min | 86.1° |
| March | 06:16 | 12:19 | 18:22 | 12 h 06 min | 83.1° |
| April | 06:13 | 12:10 | 18:08 | 11 h 55 min | 71.5° |
| May | 06:14 | 12:08 | 18:02 | 11 h 47 min | 63.1° |
| June | 06:21 | 12:13 | 18:05 | 11 h 44 min | 59.8° |
| July | 06:24 | 12:18 | 18:11 | 11 h 47 min | 62.8° |
| August | 06:17 | 12:15 | 18:12 | 11 h 55 min | 71.1° |
| September | 06:02 | 12:05 | 18:08 | 12 h 06 min | 82.5° |
| October | 05:48 | 11:56 | 18:05 | 12 h 17 min | 86.1° |
| November | 05:44 | 11:57 | 18:11 | 12 h 27 min | 76.8° |
| December | 05:54 | 12:09 | 18:25 | 12 h 31 min | 73.3° |
A year of daylight in Lae
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 Lae
Fixed array facing north (azimuth 0°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
5°collects the most energy over a year: 1358 kWh per kWp.
28°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° | 1354 | 100% | 2.94 | 1.4× |
| 5° year-round best | 1358 | 100% | 3.04 | 1.4× |
| 7° = latitude | 1358 | 100% | 3.07 | 1.4× |
| 15° | 1343 | 99% | 3.18 | 1.3× |
| 28° off-grid best | 1277 | 94% | 3.26 | 1.2× |
| 30° | 1262 | 93% | 3.26 | 1.2× |
| 45° | 1115 | 82% | 3.16 | 1.4× |
| 60° | 916 | 67% | 2.89 | 1.9× |
| 70° | 770 | 57% | 2.62 | 2.3× |
| 90° | 531 | 39% | 1.92 | 2.0× |
A fixed array in Lae produces the most over a year at 5°. The design month for an off-grid system is July: at 28° it makes 3.26 kWh per kWp a day, 7% more than at 5°, and costs 6% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Lae at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 5° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 5° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.00 | 1.70 | 1.36 | 3.94 | 22.4 °C |
| February | 5.07 | 2.10 | 1.70 | 4.05 | 22.2 °C |
| March | 4.87 | 2.67 | 2.19 | 3.94 | 21.9 °C |
| April | 4.61 | 3.21 | 2.65 | 3.79 | 21.8 °C |
| May | 4.14 | 3.44 | 2.85 | 3.44 | 21.5 °C |
| June | 3.73 | 3.36 | 2.79 | 3.12 | 21.0 °C |
| July | 3.65 | 3.16 | 2.62 | 3.04 | 20.4 °C |
| August | 4.08 | 3.09 | 2.56 | 3.38 | 20.6 °C |
| September | 4.52 | 2.71 | 2.23 | 3.69 | 21.0 °C |
| October | 5.20 | 2.20 | 1.79 | 4.18 | 21.7 °C |
| November | 5.10 | 1.64 | 1.31 | 4.04 | 22.2 °C |
| December | 5.19 | 1.54 | 1.23 | 4.07 | 22.6 °C |
| Year | 4.59 avg | 2.57 avg | 770 kWh | 1358 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 960 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 390 Wp at 5°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Lae
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.
1.9 mrow pitch at 70°
2.1 mrow pitch at 5°
How Lae compares in Papua New Guinea
Against the other 12 places in Papua New Guinea with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
13thof 13 places in Papua New Guinea for sunshine: 4.59 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−4%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Papua New Guinea: 1,358 against 1,414 kWh per kWp.
−10 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Port Moresby: 12 h 31 min against 12 h 41 min.
5°best year-round tilt here; across Papua New Guinea it runs from 4° in Kokopo to 8° in Port Moresby.
Lae gets the least sun of the 13 places in Papua New Guinea (4.59 peak sun hours a day); the sunniest is Port Moresby with 5.24. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.23 kWh a day here, against 1.22 kWh on average in Papua New Guinea. The shortest day lasts 11 h 44 min, +10 min compared with Port Moresby.
Solar forecast for Lae, 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 Lae
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Places near Lae
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A free, live card for Lae: 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.