Southern Region · Malawi · 16.03° S · 35.50° E
Solar position in Mulanje
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Mulanje — computed for 16.03° S, 35.50° E, 609 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Mulanje today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC+2
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 03:50 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 04:17 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 04:42 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 05:05 | 102° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 05:34 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 11:22 | 85.8° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:10 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:39 | 257° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:01 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:27 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 18:53 | 18° below |
| Day length | 12 h 35 min | |
Sun path diagram for Mulanje
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 50.5° at solar noon in Mulanje; on the December solstice only 82.6°. Sunrise swings from 66° ENE in June to 115° ESE in December — a 49° 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 | 05:21 | 11:49 | 18:16 | 12 h 55 min | 86.2° |
| February | 05:35 | 11:51 | 18:07 | 12 h 31 min | 84.5° |
| March | 05:42 | 11:45 | 17:48 | 12 h 06 min | 73.7° |
| April | 05:47 | 11:36 | 17:26 | 11 h 39 min | 62.0° |
| May | 05:55 | 11:34 | 17:13 | 11 h 19 min | 53.8° |
| June | 06:04 | 11:39 | 17:15 | 11 h 10 min | 50.5° |
| July | 06:05 | 11:44 | 17:23 | 11 h 18 min | 53.6° |
| August | 05:51 | 11:41 | 17:30 | 11 h 39 min | 61.9° |
| September | 05:28 | 11:31 | 17:33 | 12 h 05 min | 73.3° |
| October | 05:06 | 11:22 | 17:38 | 12 h 32 min | 84.7° |
| November | 04:56 | 11:23 | 17:51 | 12 h 55 min | 86.1° |
| December | 05:03 | 11:36 | 18:08 | 13 h 05 min | 82.6° |
A year of daylight in Mulanje
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 Mulanje
Fixed array facing north (azimuth 0°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
17°collects the most energy over a year: 1690 kWh per kWp.
17°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 | June kWh/kWp/day | Best ÷ worst month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0° | 1629 | 96% | 3.50 | 1.5× |
| 15° | 1689 | 100% | 4.14 | 1.2× |
| 16° = latitude | 1690 | 100% | 4.18 | 1.2× |
| 17° year-round best off-grid best | 1690 | 100% | 4.21 | 1.2× |
| 30° | 1652 | 98% | 4.53 | 1.3× |
| 45° | 1521 | 90% | 4.65 | 1.6× |
| 60° | 1307 | 77% | 4.49 | 2.1× |
| 70° | 1127 | 67% | 4.23 | 2.7× |
| 90° | 763 | 45% | 3.37 | 3.3× |
A fixed array in Mulanje produces the most over a year at 17°. The design month for an off-grid system is June: at 17° it makes 4.21 kWh per kWp a day, and costs 0% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Mulanje at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 17° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 17° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.70 | 2.14 | 1.72 | 4.23 | 24.4 °C |
| February | 5.94 | 2.76 | 2.24 | 4.60 | 24.0 °C |
| March | 5.72 | 3.57 | 2.93 | 4.68 | 23.5 °C |
| April | 5.39 | 4.53 | 3.76 | 4.74 | 22.2 °C |
| May | 4.91 | 5.19 | 4.33 | 4.62 | 20.8 °C |
| June | 4.33 | 5.04 | 4.23 | 4.21 | 19.3 °C |
| July | 4.38 | 4.88 | 4.11 | 4.21 | 18.9 °C |
| August | 5.33 | 5.04 | 4.21 | 4.87 | 21.2 °C |
| September | 6.07 | 4.30 | 3.53 | 5.12 | 24.4 °C |
| October | 6.48 | 3.19 | 2.57 | 5.06 | 27.0 °C |
| November | 6.55 | 2.25 | 1.79 | 4.81 | 27.6 °C |
| December | 6.05 | 1.99 | 1.59 | 4.40 | 25.8 °C |
| Year | 5.57 avg | 3.74 avg | 1127 kWh | 1690 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 740 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 280 Wp at 17°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Mulanje
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.
2.4 mrow pitch at 70°
2.5 mrow pitch at 17°
How Mulanje compares in Malawi
Against the other 22 places in Malawi with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
17thof 23 places in Malawi for sunshine, shared: 5.57 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−1%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Malawi: 1,690 against 1,699 kWh per kWp.
+8 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Lilongwe: 13 h 05 min against 12 h 57 min.
17°best year-round tilt here; across Malawi it runs from 12° in Karonga to 17° in Blantyre.
Of the 23 places in Malawi, Salima gets the most sun (5.72 peak sun hours a day) and Karonga and one other place the least (5.50); Mulanje ranks joint 17th. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.59 kWh a day here, against 1.48 kWh on average in Malawi. The shortest day lasts 11 h 10 min, −8 min compared with Lilongwe.
Solar forecast for Mulanje, 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 Mulanje
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A free, live card for Mulanje: 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.