Guanacaste Province · Costa Rica · 10.15° N · 85.45° W
Solar position in Nicoya
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Nicoya — computed for 10.15° N, 85.45° W, 128 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Nicoya today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−6
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 04:20 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 04:44 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 05:09 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 05:31 | 102° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 05:59 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 11:25 | 67.9° high |
| Golden hour starts | 16:52 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:20 | 258° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 17:42 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:06 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 18:31 | 18° below |
| Day length | 11 h 49 min | |
Sun path diagram for Nicoya
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 76.7° at solar noon in Nicoya; on the December solstice only 56.4°. Sunrise swings from 66° ENE in June to 114° ESE in December — a 48° 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 | 06:04 | 11:53 | 17:42 | 11 h 38 min | 60.1° |
| February | 05:59 | 11:55 | 17:51 | 11 h 52 min | 69.5° |
| March | 05:45 | 11:48 | 17:52 | 12 h 07 min | 80.3° |
| April | 05:28 | 11:40 | 17:52 | 12 h 24 min | 88.1° |
| May | 05:19 | 11:38 | 17:57 | 12 h 38 min | 79.9° |
| June | 05:22 | 11:43 | 18:05 | 12 h 43 min | 76.7° |
| July | 05:29 | 11:48 | 18:07 | 12 h 38 min | 79.8° |
| August | 05:32 | 11:44 | 17:56 | 12 h 24 min | 88.2° |
| September | 05:31 | 11:34 | 17:38 | 12 h 07 min | 80.3° |
| October | 05:30 | 11:26 | 17:21 | 11 h 51 min | 69.0° |
| November | 05:38 | 11:27 | 17:16 | 11 h 37 min | 59.8° |
| December | 05:53 | 11:39 | 17:25 | 11 h 32 min | 56.4° |
A year of daylight in Nicoya
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 Nicoya
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
13°collects the most energy over a year: 1552 kWh per kWp.
11°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° | 1520 | 98% | 3.88 | 1.5× |
| 10° = latitude | 1551 | 100% | 3.69 | 1.5× |
| 11° off-grid best | 1552 | 100% | 3.67 | 1.5× |
| 13° year-round best | 1552 | 100% | 3.61 | 1.5× |
| 15° | 1551 | 100% | 3.56 | 1.5× |
| 30° | 1495 | 96% | 3.05 | 1.8× |
| 45° | 1355 | 87% | 2.40 | 2.2× |
| 60° | 1142 | 74% | 1.67 | 3.0× |
| 70° | 972 | 63% | 1.25 | 3.7× |
| 90° | 658 | 42% | 1.04 | 3.5× |
A fixed array in Nicoya produces the most over a year at 13°. The design month for an off-grid system is June: at 11° it makes 3.67 kWh per kWp a day, 1% more than at 13°, and costs 0% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Nicoya at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 13° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 13° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.53 | 5.64 | 4.60 | 4.93 | 26.8 °C |
| February | 6.19 | 5.07 | 4.12 | 5.27 | 27.5 °C |
| March | 6.61 | 3.94 | 3.18 | 5.33 | 28.3 °C |
| April | 6.17 | 2.51 | 2.00 | 4.72 | 28.7 °C |
| May | 5.06 | 1.77 | 1.39 | 3.77 | 27.8 °C |
| June | 4.91 | 1.59 | 1.25 | 3.61 | 26.9 °C |
| July | 4.89 | 1.67 | 1.31 | 3.63 | 26.9 °C |
| August | 4.92 | 2.05 | 1.63 | 3.75 | 26.9 °C |
| September | 4.91 | 2.74 | 2.21 | 3.90 | 26.5 °C |
| October | 4.46 | 3.22 | 2.61 | 3.68 | 26.1 °C |
| November | 4.63 | 4.20 | 3.43 | 4.01 | 26.0 °C |
| December | 5.00 | 5.30 | 4.33 | 4.49 | 26.3 °C |
| Year | 5.27 avg | 3.30 avg | 972 kWh | 1552 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 950 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 330 Wp at 13°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Nicoya
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.
2.1 mrow pitch at 70°
2.3 mrow pitch at 13°
How Nicoya compares in Costa Rica
Against the other 35 places in Costa Rica with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
1stof 36 places in Costa Rica for sunshine: 5.27 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+12%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Costa Rica: 1,552 against 1,386 kWh per kWp.
+1 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with San José: 12 h 43 min against 12 h 42 min.
13°best year-round tilt here; across Costa Rica it runs from 11° in Limón to 13° in Liberia.
Nicoya gets the most sun of the 36 places in Costa Rica (5.27 peak sun hours a day); the least sunny is Siquirres with 4.34. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.25 kWh a day here, against 1.24 kWh on average in Costa Rica. The shortest day lasts 11 h 32 min, −1 min compared with San José.
Solar forecast for Nicoya, 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 Nicoya
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Places near Nicoya
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A free, live card for Nicoya: 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.