Flanders · Belgium · 50.89° N · 5.65° E
Solar position in Lanaken
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Lanaken — computed for 50.89° N, 5.65° E, 63 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Lanaken today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC+2
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 06:25 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 07:03 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 07:41 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 08:15 | 108° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 09:02 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:21 | 27.3° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:40 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:26 | 252° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 19:00 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:39 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 20:17 | 18° below |
| Day length | 10 h 11 min | |
Sun path diagram for Lanaken
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 62.6° at solar noon in Lanaken; on the December solstice only 15.7°. Sunrise swings from 50° NE in June to 128° SE in December — a 78° 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 | 08:28 | 12:48 | 17:09 | 8 h 42 min | 19.3° |
| February | 07:38 | 12:51 | 18:04 | 10 h 26 min | 28.7° |
| March | 06:38 | 12:44 | 18:51 | 12 h 14 min | 39.5° |
| April | 06:30 | 13:36 | 20:42 | 14 h 12 min | 51.1° |
| May | 05:40 | 13:34 | 21:28 | 15 h 49 min | 59.4° |
| June | 05:23 | 13:39 | 21:55 | 16 h 32 min | 62.6° |
| July | 05:48 | 13:43 | 21:38 | 15 h 51 min | 59.5° |
| August | 06:33 | 13:40 | 20:46 | 14 h 12 min | 51.1° |
| September | 07:21 | 13:30 | 19:38 | 12 h 16 min | 39.7° |
| October | 08:10 | 13:21 | 18:32 | 10 h 22 min | 28.3° |
| November | 08:02 | 12:23 | 16:43 | 8 h 40 min | 19.2° |
| December | 08:37 | 12:35 | 16:33 | 7 h 56 min | 15.7° |
A year of daylight in Lanaken
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 Lanaken
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
39°collects the most energy over a year: 1101 kWh per kWp.
72°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° | 901 | 82% | 0.46 | 9.6× |
| 15° | 1024 | 93% | 0.74 | 6.2× |
| 30° | 1090 | 99% | 0.98 | 4.7× |
| 39° year-round best | 1101 | 100% | 1.09 | 4.0× |
| 45° | 1095 | 100% | 1.15 | 3.7× |
| 51° = latitude | 1080 | 98% | 1.20 | 3.4× |
| 60° | 1040 | 94% | 1.25 | 3.1× |
| 70° | 971 | 88% | 1.28 | 2.8× |
| 72° off-grid best | 954 | 87% | 1.28 | 2.7× |
| 90° | 768 | 70% | 1.22 | 2.2× |
A fixed array in Lanaken produces the most over a year at 39°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 72° it makes 1.28 kWh per kWp a day, 17% more than at 39°, and costs 13% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Lanaken at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 39° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 39° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0.79 | 1.68 | 1.49 | 1.30 | 1.3 °C |
| February | 1.49 | 2.44 | 2.17 | 2.06 | 1.9 °C |
| March | 2.72 | 3.46 | 3.05 | 3.18 | 5.0 °C |
| April | 4.26 | 4.12 | 3.59 | 4.19 | 9.1 °C |
| May | 5.05 | 3.94 | 3.36 | 4.35 | 12.9 °C |
| June | 5.44 | 3.86 | 3.24 | 4.37 | 16.4 °C |
| July | 5.23 | 3.85 | 3.21 | 4.26 | 18.4 °C |
| August | 4.40 | 3.83 | 3.21 | 3.93 | 17.9 °C |
| September | 3.33 | 3.80 | 3.24 | 3.53 | 14.4 °C |
| October | 1.94 | 2.88 | 2.49 | 2.45 | 10.2 °C |
| November | 0.95 | 1.81 | 1.58 | 1.42 | 5.7 °C |
| December | 0.62 | 1.45 | 1.28 | 1.09 | 2.3 °C |
| Year | 3.03 avg | 3.09 avg | 971 kWh | 1101 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 920 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 1,080 Wp at 39°. The steep array is 15% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Lanaken
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.
9.2 mrow pitch at 70°
7.2 mrow pitch at 39°
How Lanaken compares in Belgium
Against the other 222 places in Belgium with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
214thof 223 places in Belgium for sunshine, shared: 3.03 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−1%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Belgium: 1,101 against 1,112 kWh per kWp.
±0 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Brussels: 16 h 32 min against 16 h 31 min.
39°best year-round tilt here; across Belgium it runs from 38° in Brugge to 39° in Brussels.
Of the 223 places in Belgium, Knokke-Heist and one other place get the most sun (3.13 peak sun hours a day) and Eupen the least (3.01); Lanaken ranks joint 214th. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.28 kWh a day here, against 1.30 kWh on average in Belgium. The shortest day lasts 7 h 56 min, ±0 min compared with Brussels.
Solar forecast for Lanaken, 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 Lanaken
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Places near Lanaken
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A free, live card for Lanaken: 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.