Matanzas Province · Cuba · 23.04° N · 81.58° W
Solar position in Matanzas
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Matanzas — computed for 23.04° N, 81.58° W, 1 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Matanzas today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−4
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 06:11 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:37 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 07:04 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 07:27 | 103° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 07:57 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:10 | 55.0° high |
| Golden hour starts | 18:22 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:53 | 257° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 19:16 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:42 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 20:09 | 18° below |
| Day length | 11 h 26 min | |
Sun path diagram for Matanzas
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 89.6° at solar noon in Matanzas; on the December solstice only 43.5°. Sunrise swings from 64° ENE in June to 115° ESE in December — a 51° 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 | 07:09 | 12:37 | 18:06 | 10 h 57 min | 47.2° |
| February | 06:54 | 12:40 | 18:25 | 11 h 32 min | 56.6° |
| March | 07:29 | 13:33 | 19:37 | 12 h 09 min | 67.4° |
| April | 07:00 | 13:25 | 19:49 | 12 h 49 min | 79.0° |
| May | 06:42 | 13:22 | 20:03 | 13 h 20 min | 87.2° |
| June | 06:41 | 13:28 | 20:14 | 13 h 33 min | 89.6° |
| July | 06:52 | 13:32 | 20:12 | 13 h 21 min | 87.3° |
| August | 07:05 | 13:29 | 19:53 | 12 h 49 min | 78.9° |
| September | 07:14 | 13:19 | 19:23 | 12 h 09 min | 67.5° |
| October | 07:25 | 13:10 | 18:55 | 11 h 30 min | 56.1° |
| November | 06:43 | 12:12 | 17:40 | 10 h 57 min | 46.9° |
| December | 07:02 | 12:24 | 17:46 | 10 h 43 min | 43.5° |
A year of daylight in Matanzas
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 Matanzas
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
21°collects the most energy over a year: 1619 kWh per kWp.
30°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° | 1528 | 94% | 2.90 | 1.8× |
| 15° | 1612 | 100% | 3.57 | 1.5× |
| 21° year-round best | 1619 | 100% | 3.78 | 1.4× |
| 23° = latitude | 1618 | 100% | 3.85 | 1.3× |
| 30° off-grid best | 1602 | 99% | 4.03 | 1.3× |
| 45° | 1501 | 93% | 4.24 | 1.4× |
| 60° | 1316 | 81% | 4.19 | 1.8× |
| 70° | 1154 | 71% | 4.01 | 2.1× |
| 90° | 788 | 49% | 3.34 | 3.2× |
A fixed array in Matanzas produces the most over a year at 21°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 30° it makes 4.03 kWh per kWp a day, 6% more than at 21°, and costs 1% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Matanzas at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 21° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 21° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.89 | 4.85 | 4.00 | 3.92 | 23.4 °C |
| February | 4.80 | 4.96 | 4.09 | 4.52 | 24.0 °C |
| March | 5.81 | 4.63 | 3.80 | 5.04 | 24.7 °C |
| April | 6.49 | 3.66 | 2.97 | 5.15 | 26.2 °C |
| May | 6.30 | 2.72 | 2.18 | 4.67 | 27.4 °C |
| June | 5.99 | 2.41 | 1.91 | 4.33 | 28.6 °C |
| July | 6.37 | 2.61 | 2.07 | 4.62 | 29.2 °C |
| August | 6.13 | 3.15 | 2.51 | 4.67 | 29.5 °C |
| September | 5.42 | 3.81 | 3.07 | 4.45 | 29.0 °C |
| October | 4.66 | 4.32 | 3.50 | 4.16 | 27.9 °C |
| November | 4.04 | 4.74 | 3.88 | 3.93 | 25.8 °C |
| December | 3.70 | 4.88 | 4.01 | 3.78 | 24.6 °C |
| Year | 5.30 avg | 3.89 avg | 1154 kWh | 1619 kWh |
Sizing example. To run a 1 kWh-per-day load through June on LiFePO4 batteries (charge controller, battery and inverter losses included) you need about 620 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 310 Wp at 21°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Matanzas
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.
2.9 mrow pitch at 70°
2.7 mrow pitch at 21°
How Matanzas compares in Cuba
Against the other 122 places in Cuba with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
100thof 123 places in Cuba for sunshine, shared: 5.30 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−1%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Cuba: 1,619 against 1,639 kWh per kWp.
±0 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Havana: 13 h 33 min against 13 h 34 min.
21°best year-round tilt here; across Cuba it runs from 19° in Puerto Padre to 22° in Consolación del Sur.
Of the 123 places in Cuba, Niquero gets the most sun (5.68 peak sun hours a day) and Remedios and one other place the least (5.17); Matanzas ranks joint 100th. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.91 kWh a day here, against 1.85 kWh on average in Cuba. The shortest day lasts 10 h 43 min, ±0 min compared with Havana.
Solar forecast for Matanzas, 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 Matanzas
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Places near Matanzas
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A free, live card for Matanzas: 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.