Rhône-Alpes · France · 46.56° N · 3.33° E
Solar position in Moulins
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Moulins — computed for 46.56° N, 3.33° E, 219 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Moulins today
Sunday, 25 October 2026 · local time UTC+2
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 05:36 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:11 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 06:47 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 07:18 | 107° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 08:00 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 12:30 | 31.3° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:00 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:42 | 253° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:13 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:48 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 19:23 | 18° below |
| Day length | 10 h 25 min | |
Sun path diagram for Moulins
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 66.9° at solar noon in Moulins; on the December solstice only 20.0°. Sunrise swings from 54° NE in June to 124° SE in December — a 71° 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 | 08:22 | 12:58 | 17:34 | 9 h 12 min | 23.6° |
| February | 07:40 | 13:00 | 18:20 | 10 h 40 min | 33.0° |
| March | 06:48 | 12:54 | 19:00 | 12 h 12 min | 43.8° |
| April | 06:49 | 13:45 | 20:42 | 13 h 53 min | 55.4° |
| May | 06:06 | 13:43 | 21:20 | 15 h 15 min | 63.7° |
| June | 05:53 | 13:48 | 21:43 | 15 h 50 min | 66.9° |
| July | 06:14 | 13:53 | 21:31 | 15 h 16 min | 63.9° |
| August | 06:52 | 13:49 | 20:46 | 13 h 54 min | 55.5° |
| September | 07:32 | 13:39 | 19:46 | 12 h 14 min | 44.0° |
| October | 08:12 | 13:31 | 18:49 | 10 h 37 min | 32.7° |
| November | 07:56 | 12:32 | 17:07 | 9 h 11 min | 23.5° |
| December | 08:27 | 12:44 | 17:01 | 8 h 34 min | 20.0° |
A year of daylight in Moulins
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 Moulins
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
37°collects the most energy over a year: 1261 kWh per kWp.
68°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° | 1054 | 84% | 0.76 | 6.5× |
| 15° | 1187 | 94% | 1.13 | 4.5× |
| 30° | 1254 | 99% | 1.43 | 3.4× |
| 37° year-round best | 1261 | 100% | 1.55 | 3.1× |
| 45° | 1250 | 99% | 1.65 | 2.7× |
| 47° = latitude | 1244 | 99% | 1.67 | 2.7× |
| 60° | 1175 | 93% | 1.77 | 2.2× |
| 68° off-grid best | 1109 | 88% | 1.78 | 2.1× |
| 70° | 1090 | 86% | 1.78 | 2.1× |
| 90° | 845 | 67% | 1.66 | 1.7× |
A fixed array in Moulins produces the most over a year at 37°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 68° it makes 1.78 kWh per kWp a day, 15% more than at 37°, and costs 12% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Moulins at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 37° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 37° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 1.17 | 2.21 | 1.97 | 1.76 | 2.2 °C |
| February | 2.01 | 3.07 | 2.74 | 2.64 | 2.7 °C |
| March | 3.30 | 3.95 | 3.48 | 3.72 | 6.1 °C |
| April | 4.53 | 4.08 | 3.54 | 4.30 | 9.8 °C |
| May | 5.27 | 3.85 | 3.28 | 4.41 | 13.5 °C |
| June | 6.01 | 3.94 | 3.30 | 4.72 | 17.8 °C |
| July | 5.98 | 4.07 | 3.38 | 4.75 | 20.0 °C |
| August | 5.17 | 4.24 | 3.54 | 4.51 | 19.7 °C |
| September | 3.99 | 4.32 | 3.67 | 4.11 | 15.7 °C |
| October | 2.45 | 3.41 | 2.95 | 2.95 | 11.6 °C |
| November | 1.40 | 2.51 | 2.20 | 2.01 | 6.3 °C |
| December | 0.97 | 2.01 | 1.78 | 1.55 | 2.9 °C |
| Year | 3.53 avg | 3.47 avg | 1090 kWh | 1261 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 660 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 760 Wp at 37°. The steep array is 13% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Moulins
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.
6.9 mrow pitch at 70°
5.6 mrow pitch at 37°
How Moulins compares in France
Against the other 656 places in France with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
232ndof 657 places in France for sunshine, shared: 3.53 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
±0%solar energy a year compared with the average place in France: 1,261 against 1,261 kWh per kWp.
−21 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Paris: 15 h 50 min against 16 h 11 min.
37°best year-round tilt here; across France it runs from 33° in Ajaccio to 39° in Lille.
Of the 657 places in France, Marseille 12 and 5 other places get the most sun (4.46 peak sun hours a day) and Maubeuge and one other place the least (3.10); Moulins ranks joint 232nd. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.78 kWh a day here, against 1.86 kWh on average in France. The shortest day lasts 8 h 34 min, +19 min compared with Paris.
Solar forecast for Moulins, 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 Moulins
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A free, live card for Moulins: 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.