Điện Biên Province · Vietnam · 22.00° N · 103.13° E
Solar position in Mường Lay
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Mường Lay — computed for 22.00° N, 103.13° E, 496 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Mường Lay today
Sunday, 25 October 2026 · local time UTC+7
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 04:52 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 05:18 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 05:44 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 06:07 | 103° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 06:38 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 11:51 | 55.9° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:04 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:35 | 257° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 17:57 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:24 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 18:50 | 18° below |
| Day length | 11 h 28 min | |
Sun path diagram for Mường Lay
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 88.6° at solar noon in Mường Lay; on the December solstice only 44.6°. 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 | 06:48 | 12:18 | 17:49 | 11 h 01 min | 48.1° |
| February | 06:34 | 12:21 | 18:07 | 11 h 33 min | 57.5° |
| March | 06:10 | 12:14 | 18:18 | 12 h 08 min | 68.2° |
| April | 05:43 | 12:06 | 18:29 | 12 h 46 min | 79.9° |
| May | 05:26 | 12:04 | 18:42 | 13 h 16 min | 88.2° |
| June | 05:24 | 12:09 | 18:53 | 13 h 29 min | 88.6° |
| July | 05:35 | 12:13 | 18:52 | 13 h 17 min | 88.5° |
| August | 05:47 | 12:10 | 18:34 | 12 h 47 min | 80.1° |
| September | 05:55 | 12:00 | 18:05 | 12 h 09 min | 68.7° |
| October | 06:05 | 11:52 | 17:38 | 11 h 32 min | 57.3° |
| November | 06:22 | 11:53 | 17:23 | 11 h 00 min | 48.1° |
| December | 06:41 | 12:05 | 17:29 | 10 h 47 min | 44.6° |
A year of daylight in Mường Lay
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 Mường Lay
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: 1296 kWh per kWp.
24°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° | 1229 | 95% | 2.50 | 1.7× |
| 15° | 1290 | 100% | 2.97 | 1.4× |
| 21° year-round best | 1296 | 100% | 3.11 | 1.3× |
| 22° = latitude | 1296 | 100% | 3.13 | 1.3× |
| 24° off-grid best | 1295 | 100% | 3.17 | 1.3× |
| 30° | 1284 | 99% | 3.27 | 1.3× |
| 45° | 1210 | 93% | 3.38 | 1.5× |
| 60° | 1075 | 83% | 3.29 | 1.7× |
| 70° | 956 | 74% | 3.13 | 1.9× |
| 90° | 681 | 53% | 2.57 | 2.3× |
A fixed array in Mường Lay produces the most over a year at 21°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 24° it makes 3.17 kWh per kWp a day, 2% more than at 21°, and costs 0% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Mường Lay 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 | 3.17 | 3.64 | 3.12 | 3.19 | 13.4 °C |
| February | 4.11 | 4.05 | 3.43 | 3.91 | 16.2 °C |
| March | 4.55 | 3.50 | 2.92 | 3.93 | 19.7 °C |
| April | 5.14 | 3.06 | 2.51 | 4.11 | 22.7 °C |
| May | 5.14 | 2.54 | 2.06 | 3.89 | 24.3 °C |
| June | 4.36 | 2.22 | 1.78 | 3.25 | 24.5 °C |
| July | 4.28 | 2.21 | 1.78 | 3.22 | 24.0 °C |
| August | 4.47 | 2.58 | 2.10 | 3.47 | 23.7 °C |
| September | 4.43 | 3.07 | 2.52 | 3.64 | 22.7 °C |
| October | 3.79 | 3.24 | 2.70 | 3.34 | 20.3 °C |
| November | 3.66 | 4.06 | 3.44 | 3.61 | 17.1 °C |
| December | 3.05 | 3.65 | 3.13 | 3.11 | 13.5 °C |
| Year | 4.18 avg | 3.15 avg | 956 kWh | 1296 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 660 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 380 Wp at 21°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Mường Lay
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.
2.8 mrow pitch at 70°
2.7 mrow pitch at 21°
How Mường Lay compares in Vietnam
Against the other 306 places in Vietnam with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
165thof 307 places in Vietnam for sunshine, shared: 4.18 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−2%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Vietnam: 1,296 against 1,320 kWh per kWp.
+43 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Ho Chi Minh City: 13 h 29 min against 12 h 46 min.
21°best year-round tilt here; across Vietnam it runs from 9° in Vĩnh Châu to 21° in Dien Bien Phu.
Of the 307 places in Vietnam, Phú Quý gets the most sun (5.45 peak sun hours a day) and Thị Trấn Thất Khê and one other place the least (3.61); Mường Lay ranks joint 165th. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.78 kWh a day here, against 1.53 kWh on average in Vietnam. The shortest day lasts 10 h 47 min, −42 min compared with Ho Chi Minh City.
Solar forecast for Mường Lay, 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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A free, live card for Mường Lay: 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.