Sankuru · Democratic Republic of the Congo · 4.98° S · 23.44° E
Solar position in Lusambo
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Lusambo — computed for 4.98° S, 23.44° E, 432 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Lusambo today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC+2
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 04:52 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 05:17 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 05:41 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 06:02 | 102° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 06:30 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 12:10 | 83.1° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:49 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:18 | 258° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:39 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:03 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 19:28 | 18° below |
| Day length | 12 h 15 min | |
Sun path diagram for Lusambo
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 61.6° at solar noon in Lusambo; on the December solstice only 71.5°. Sunrise swings from 67° 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 | 06:26 | 12:37 | 18:48 | 12 h 22 min | 75.1° |
| February | 06:32 | 12:39 | 18:46 | 12 h 14 min | 84.5° |
| March | 06:30 | 12:33 | 18:36 | 12 h 06 min | 84.7° |
| April | 06:25 | 12:24 | 18:24 | 11 h 58 min | 73.1° |
| May | 06:26 | 12:22 | 18:19 | 11 h 52 min | 64.8° |
| June | 06:32 | 12:28 | 18:23 | 11 h 50 min | 61.6° |
| July | 06:36 | 12:32 | 18:28 | 11 h 52 min | 64.6° |
| August | 06:30 | 12:29 | 18:28 | 11 h 58 min | 73.0° |
| September | 06:16 | 12:19 | 18:22 | 12 h 06 min | 84.4° |
| October | 06:03 | 12:10 | 18:18 | 12 h 14 min | 84.2° |
| November | 06:01 | 12:12 | 18:22 | 12 h 22 min | 75.0° |
| December | 06:11 | 12:24 | 18:36 | 12 h 25 min | 71.5° |
A year of daylight in Lusambo
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 Lusambo
Fixed array facing north (azimuth 0°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
6°collects the most energy over a year: 1421 kWh per kWp.
8°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 | August kWh/kWp/day | Best ÷ worst month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0° | 1414 | 100% | 3.47 | 1.2× |
| 5° = latitude | 1421 | 100% | 3.54 | 1.2× |
| 6° year-round best | 1421 | 100% | 3.56 | 1.2× |
| 8° off-grid best | 1421 | 100% | 3.58 | 1.2× |
| 15° | 1408 | 99% | 3.62 | 1.3× |
| 30° | 1328 | 93% | 3.58 | 1.5× |
| 45° | 1179 | 83% | 3.35 | 1.9× |
| 60° | 974 | 69% | 2.96 | 2.6× |
| 70° | 823 | 58% | 2.61 | 2.9× |
| 90° | 566 | 40% | 1.76 | 2.4× |
A fixed array in Lusambo produces the most over a year at 6°. The design month for an off-grid system is August: at 8° it makes 3.58 kWh per kWp a day, and costs 0% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Lusambo at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 6° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 6° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.69 | 1.53 | 1.21 | 3.63 | 24.9 °C |
| February | 4.95 | 1.91 | 1.52 | 3.88 | 25.4 °C |
| March | 5.18 | 2.63 | 2.13 | 4.13 | 25.2 °C |
| April | 5.16 | 3.49 | 2.85 | 4.20 | 25.2 °C |
| May | 5.06 | 4.21 | 3.44 | 4.18 | 25.8 °C |
| June | 4.76 | 4.31 | 3.52 | 3.95 | 26.2 °C |
| July | 4.47 | 3.81 | 3.10 | 3.66 | 26.9 °C |
| August | 4.41 | 3.23 | 2.61 | 3.56 | 27.6 °C |
| September | 4.96 | 2.88 | 2.33 | 3.96 | 26.4 °C |
| October | 5.10 | 2.22 | 1.78 | 4.03 | 25.0 °C |
| November | 5.05 | 1.67 | 1.33 | 3.93 | 24.5 °C |
| December | 4.70 | 1.52 | 1.20 | 3.63 | 24.4 °C |
| Year | 4.87 avg | 2.79 avg | 823 kWh | 1421 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 980 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 330 Wp at 6°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Lusambo
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 6°
How Lusambo compares in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Against the other 113 places in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
72ndof 114 places in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for sunshine, shared: 4.87 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−3%solar energy a year compared with the average place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: 1,421 against 1,465 kWh per kWp.
+2 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Kinshasa: 12 h 25 min against 12 h 23 min.
6°best year-round tilt here; across the Democratic Republic of the Congo it runs from 0° in Boende to 17° in Lubumbashi.
Of the 114 places in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mokambo gets the most sun (5.73 peak sun hours a day) and Tshela the least (4.07); Lusambo ranks joint 72nd. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.20 kWh a day here, against 1.20 kWh on average in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The shortest day lasts 11 h 50 min, −2 min compared with Kinshasa.
Solar forecast for Lusambo, 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 Lusambo
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A free, live card for Lusambo: 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.