Hunedoara County · Romania · 45.45° N · 23.42° E
Solar position in Petrila
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Petrila — computed for 45.45° N, 23.42° E, 676 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Petrila today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC+3
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 06:15 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:49 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 07:24 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 07:54 | 106° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 08:35 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:10 | 32.7° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:44 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:25 | 254° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:56 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:30 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 20:05 | 18° below |
| Day length | 10 h 32 min | |
Sun path diagram for Petrila
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 68.0° at solar noon in Petrila; on the December solstice only 21.2°. Sunrise swings from 54° NE in June to 124° ESE in December — a 69° 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 | 07:58 | 12:37 | 17:17 | 9 h 19 min | 24.7° |
| February | 07:18 | 12:40 | 18:01 | 10 h 43 min | 34.1° |
| March | 06:27 | 12:33 | 18:39 | 12 h 12 min | 44.9° |
| April | 06:30 | 13:25 | 20:19 | 13 h 49 min | 56.5° |
| May | 05:49 | 13:23 | 20:56 | 15 h 07 min | 64.8° |
| June | 05:37 | 13:28 | 21:18 | 15 h 41 min | 68.0° |
| July | 05:58 | 13:32 | 21:06 | 15 h 09 min | 65.0° |
| August | 06:34 | 13:29 | 20:23 | 13 h 50 min | 56.6° |
| September | 07:11 | 13:19 | 19:26 | 12 h 14 min | 45.2° |
| October | 07:50 | 13:10 | 18:30 | 10 h 41 min | 33.8° |
| November | 07:33 | 12:11 | 16:50 | 9 h 18 min | 24.6° |
| December | 08:03 | 12:24 | 16:45 | 8 h 43 min | 21.2° |
A year of daylight in Petrila
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 Petrila
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: 1289 kWh per kWp.
74°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° | 1076 | 83% | 0.89 | 5.5× |
| 15° | 1212 | 94% | 1.32 | 3.8× |
| 30° | 1281 | 99% | 1.68 | 2.9× |
| 37° year-round best | 1289 | 100% | 1.82 | 2.6× |
| 45° = latitude | 1279 | 99% | 1.96 | 2.3× |
| 60° | 1207 | 94% | 2.13 | 1.9× |
| 70° | 1123 | 87% | 2.18 | 1.7× |
| 74° off-grid best | 1082 | 84% | 2.18 | 1.6× |
| 90° | 883 | 68% | 2.11 | 1.4× |
A fixed array in Petrila produces the most over a year at 37°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 74° it makes 2.18 kWh per kWp a day, 20% more than at 37°, and costs 16% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Petrila 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 snow | 1.34 | 2.66 | 2.44 | 2.09 | -4.7 °C |
| February snow | 2.11 | 3.35 | 3.06 | 2.81 | -3.4 °C |
| March | 3.23 | 3.74 | 3.36 | 3.63 | 0.8 °C |
| April | 4.45 | 3.91 | 3.44 | 4.22 | 6.4 °C |
| May | 5.23 | 3.74 | 3.21 | 4.36 | 11.6 °C |
| June | 5.88 | 3.76 | 3.18 | 4.60 | 15.5 °C |
| July | 5.92 | 3.92 | 3.28 | 4.69 | 17.6 °C |
| August | 5.33 | 4.28 | 3.60 | 4.66 | 17.9 °C |
| September | 3.81 | 4.01 | 3.44 | 3.90 | 12.8 °C |
| October | 2.64 | 3.75 | 3.30 | 3.29 | 7.3 °C |
| November | 1.54 | 2.77 | 2.47 | 2.26 | 2.4 °C |
| December snow | 1.11 | 2.39 | 2.18 | 1.82 | -3.0 °C |
| Year | 3.56 avg | 3.52 avg | 1123 kWh | 1289 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 540 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 650 Wp at 37°. The steep array is 16% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Petrila
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.
6.5 mrow pitch at 70°
5.3 mrow pitch at 37°
How Petrila compares in Romania
Against the other 125 places in Romania with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
78thof 126 places in Romania for sunshine, shared: 3.56 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−1%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Romania: 1,289 against 1,300 kWh per kWp.
+8 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Bucharest: 15 h 41 min against 15 h 33 min.
37°best year-round tilt here; across Romania it runs from 33° in Mangalia to 39° in Bistriţa.
Of the 126 places in Romania, Mangalia gets the most sun (3.93 peak sun hours a day) and Vişeu de Sus and one other place the least (3.33); Petrila ranks joint 78th. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 2.17 kWh a day here, against 2.01 kWh on average in Romania. The shortest day lasts 8 h 43 min, −8 min compared with Bucharest.
Solar forecast for Petrila, 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 Petrila
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Places near Petrila
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A free, live card for Petrila: 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.