North Ostrobothnia · Finland · 65.01° N · 25.47° E
Solar position in Oulu
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Oulu — computed for 65.01° N, 25.47° E, 15 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Oulu today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC+3
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 05:52 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:49 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 07:47 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 08:39 | 117° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 10:00 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:01 | 13.2° high |
| Golden hour starts | 16:03 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:23 | 243° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:16 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:13 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 20:10 | 18° below |
| Day length | 8 h 44 min | |
Sun path diagram for Oulu
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 48.4° at solar noon in Oulu; on the December solstice only 1.9°. Sunrise swings from 13° NNE in June to 156° SSE in December — a 142° 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 | 09:40 | 12:29 | 15:19 | 5 h 40 min | 5.3° |
| February | 07:57 | 12:32 | 17:07 | 9 h 10 min | 14.6° |
| March | 06:15 | 12:25 | 18:36 | 12 h 21 min | 25.3° |
| April | 05:21 | 13:17 | 21:14 | 15 h 54 min | 36.9° |
| May | 03:32 | 13:14 | 22:59 | 19 h 27 min | 45.2° |
| June | 02:18 | 13:19 | 00:21 | 22 h 03 min | 48.4° |
| July | 03:36 | 13:24 | 23:09 | 19 h 33 min | 45.4° |
| August | 05:22 | 13:20 | 21:18 | 15 h 56 min | 37.0° |
| September | 06:57 | 13:10 | 19:23 | 12 h 26 min | 25.6° |
| October | 08:29 | 13:02 | 17:34 | 9 h 05 min | 14.3° |
| November | 09:15 | 12:03 | 14:51 | 5 h 36 min | 5.2° |
| December | 10:28 | 12:16 | 14:03 | 3 h 34 min | 1.9° |
A year of daylight in Oulu
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 Oulu
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
47°collects the most energy over a year: 966 kWh per kWp.
14°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° | 715 | 74% | 0.02 | 228.3× |
| 14° off-grid best | 839 | 87% | 0.02 | 246.4× |
| 15° | 847 | 88% | 0.02 | 247.3× |
| 30° | 932 | 96% | 0.02 | — |
| 45° | 966 | 100% | 0.02 | — |
| 47° year-round best | 966 | 100% | 0.02 | — |
| 60° | 947 | 98% | 0.02 | — |
| 65° = latitude | 929 | 96% | 0.02 | — |
| 70° | 905 | 94% | 0.02 | — |
| 90° | 760 | 79% | 0.02 | — |
A fixed array in Oulu produces the most over a year at 47°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 14° it makes 0.02 kWh per kWp a day, 6% more than at 47°, and costs 13% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Oulu at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 47° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 47° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January snow | 0.10 | 0.50 | 0.44 | 0.36 | -10.4 °C |
| February snow | 0.62 | 1.75 | 1.61 | 1.40 | -10.1 °C |
| March snow | 1.99 | 3.95 | 3.64 | 3.38 | -6.0 °C |
| April | 3.63 | 4.46 | 4.00 | 4.26 | 0.5 °C |
| May | 4.91 | 4.71 | 4.11 | 4.72 | 7.5 °C |
| June | 5.61 | 4.77 | 4.07 | 4.84 | 12.7 °C |
| July | 5.10 | 4.55 | 3.83 | 4.49 | 16.3 °C |
| August | 3.75 | 4.08 | 3.46 | 3.82 | 14.4 °C |
| September | 2.08 | 3.05 | 2.64 | 2.67 | 9.4 °C |
| October | 0.78 | 1.64 | 1.44 | 1.34 | 2.7 °C |
| November snow | 0.17 | 0.55 | 0.47 | 0.40 | -2.6 °C |
| December snow | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.02 | -6.9 °C |
| Year | 2.41 avg | 2.84 avg | 905 kWh | 966 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 66,590 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 61,990 Wp at 47°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Oulu
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.
—The winter sun stays too low for rows to be shade-free; use a single row.
How Oulu compares in Finland
Against the other 78 places in Finland with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
71stof 79 places in Finland for sunshine, shared: 2.41 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−2%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Finland: 966 against 983 kWh per kWp.
+3 h 07 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Helsinki: 22 h 03 min against 18 h 56 min.
47°best year-round tilt here; across Finland it runs from 43° in Turku to 49° in Rovaniemi.
Of the 79 places in Finland, Rauma gets the most sun (2.75 peak sun hours a day) and Rovaniemi the least (2.25); Oulu ranks joint 71st. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 0.02 kWh a day here, against 0.26 kWh on average in Finland. The shortest day lasts 3 h 34 min, −2 h 15 min compared with Helsinki.
Solar forecast for Oulu, 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 Oulu
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Places near Oulu
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A free, live card for Oulu: 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.