Turkana County · Kenya · 3.12° N · 35.60° E
Solar position in Lodwar
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Lodwar — computed for 3.12° N, 35.60° E, 500 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Lodwar today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC+3
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 05:10 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 05:35 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 05:59 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 06:21 | 102° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 06:49 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 12:21 | 75.1° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:54 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:22 | 258° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:43 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:08 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 19:32 | 18° below |
| Day length | 12 h 02 min | |
Sun path diagram for Lodwar
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 69.7° at solar noon in Lodwar; on the December solstice only 63.5°. Sunrise swings from 66° ENE in June to 113° 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 | 06:49 | 12:48 | 18:47 | 11 h 58 min | 67.0° |
| February | 06:50 | 12:51 | 18:52 | 12 h 02 min | 76.4° |
| March | 06:41 | 12:44 | 18:48 | 12 h 07 min | 87.2° |
| April | 06:30 | 12:36 | 18:42 | 12 h 12 min | 81.2° |
| May | 06:26 | 12:34 | 18:42 | 12 h 16 min | 72.9° |
| June | 06:30 | 12:39 | 18:48 | 12 h 18 min | 69.7° |
| July | 06:35 | 12:44 | 18:52 | 12 h 16 min | 72.7° |
| August | 06:34 | 12:40 | 18:46 | 12 h 12 min | 81.1° |
| September | 06:27 | 12:30 | 18:34 | 12 h 07 min | 87.5° |
| October | 06:21 | 12:22 | 18:23 | 12 h 02 min | 76.1° |
| November | 06:24 | 12:23 | 18:22 | 11 h 58 min | 66.9° |
| December | 06:37 | 12:35 | 18:33 | 11 h 57 min | 63.5° |
A year of daylight in Lodwar
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 Lodwar
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
4°collects the most energy over a year: 1818 kWh per kWp.
0°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° off-grid best | 1815 | 100% | 4.71 | 1.1× |
| 3° = latitude | 1818 | 100% | 4.62 | 1.2× |
| 4° year-round best | 1818 | 100% | 4.58 | 1.2× |
| 15° | 1789 | 98% | 4.14 | 1.4× |
| 30° | 1659 | 91% | 3.34 | 1.8× |
| 45° | 1435 | 79% | 2.37 | 2.5× |
| 60° | 1141 | 63% | 1.40 | 4.0× |
| 70° | 938 | 52% | 1.01 | 4.8× |
| 90° | 615 | 34% | 0.97 | 3.6× |
A fixed array in Lodwar produces the most over a year at 4°. The design month for an off-grid system is July: at 0° it makes 4.71 kWh per kWp a day, 3% more than at 4°, and costs 0% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Lodwar at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 4° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 4° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.53 | 5.79 | 4.67 | 5.29 | 29.0 °C |
| February | 6.80 | 4.77 | 3.83 | 5.41 | 30.3 °C |
| March | 6.66 | 3.36 | 2.68 | 5.22 | 30.5 °C |
| April | 6.14 | 2.02 | 1.59 | 4.77 | 29.3 °C |
| May | 6.28 | 1.28 | 0.98 | 4.82 | 28.7 °C |
| June | 6.03 | 1.29 | 0.99 | 4.61 | 28.1 °C |
| July | 5.96 | 1.31 | 1.01 | 4.58 | 27.7 °C |
| August | 6.37 | 1.57 | 1.23 | 4.94 | 28.2 °C |
| September | 6.80 | 2.76 | 2.20 | 5.32 | 29.3 °C |
| October | 6.33 | 3.96 | 3.19 | 5.03 | 29.5 °C |
| November | 5.97 | 4.84 | 3.91 | 4.82 | 28.6 °C |
| December | 6.16 | 5.71 | 4.62 | 5.01 | 28.5 °C |
| Year | 6.33 avg | 3.21 avg | 938 kWh | 1818 kWh |
Sizing example. To run a 1 kWh-per-day load through May on LiFePO4 batteries (charge controller, battery and inverter losses included) you need about 1,200 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 260 Wp at 4°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Lodwar
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.
1.8 mrow pitch at 70°
2.1 mrow pitch at 4°
How Lodwar compares in Kenya
Against the other 119 places in Kenya with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
1stof 120 places in Kenya for sunshine: 6.33 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+6%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Kenya: 1,818 against 1,717 kWh per kWp.
+6 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Nairobi: 12 h 18 min against 12 h 12 min.
4°best year-round tilt here; across Kenya it runs from 0° in Nairobi to 7° in Mandera.
Lodwar gets the most sun of the 120 places in Kenya (6.33 peak sun hours a day); the least sunny is Taveta with 5.47. In its darkest month, May, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 0.98 kWh a day here, against 0.99 kWh on average in Kenya. The shortest day lasts 11 h 57 min, −6 min compared with Nairobi.
Solar forecast for Lodwar, 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 Lodwar
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Places near Lodwar
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A free, live card for Lodwar: 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.