Capital Region · Iceland · 64.14° N · 21.90° W
Solar position in Reykjavík
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Reykjavík — computed for 64.14° N, 21.90° W, 37 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Reykjavík today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 06:03 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:58 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 07:54 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 08:45 | 116° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 10:02 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:11 | 14.1° high |
| Golden hour starts | 16:20 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:36 | 244° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:27 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:23 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 20:18 | 18° below |
| Day length | 8 h 52 min | |
Sun path diagram for Reykjavík
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 49.3° at solar noon in Reykjavík; on the December solstice only 2.7°. Sunrise swings from 20° NNE in June to 152° SSE in December — a 132° 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 | 10:39 | 13:39 | 16:38 | 5 h 59 min | 6.2° |
| February | 09:02 | 13:41 | 18:20 | 9 h 18 min | 15.5° |
| March | 07:24 | 13:35 | 19:46 | 12 h 21 min | 26.3° |
| April | 05:34 | 13:26 | 21:19 | 15 h 45 min | 37.9° |
| May | 03:54 | 13:24 | 22:56 | 19 h 03 min | 46.1° |
| June | 02:55 | 13:29 | 00:03 | 21 h 08 min | 49.3° |
| July | 03:59 | 13:33 | 23:06 | 19 h 07 min | 46.3° |
| August | 05:37 | 13:30 | 21:22 | 15 h 45 min | 37.9° |
| September | 07:07 | 13:20 | 19:31 | 12 h 24 min | 26.5° |
| October | 08:36 | 13:11 | 17:47 | 9 h 11 min | 15.1° |
| November | 10:15 | 13:13 | 16:10 | 5 h 55 min | 6.0° |
| December | 11:21 | 13:25 | 15:29 | 4 h 07 min | 2.7° |
A year of daylight in Reykjavík
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 Reykjavík
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
43°collects the most energy over a year: 854 kWh per kWp.
54°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° | 667 | 78% | 0.03 | 129.0× |
| 15° | 772 | 90% | 0.04 | 120.4× |
| 30° | 836 | 98% | 0.04 | 111.8× |
| 43° year-round best | 854 | 100% | 0.04 | 105.5× |
| 45° | 854 | 100% | 0.04 | 104.6× |
| 54° off-grid best | 843 | 99% | 0.04 | 100.3× |
| 60° | 827 | 97% | 0.04 | 97.3× |
| 64° = latitude | 812 | 95% | 0.04 | 95.1× |
| 70° | 784 | 92% | 0.04 | 91.7× |
| 90° | 646 | 76% | 0.04 | 78.3× |
A fixed array in Reykjavík produces the most over a year at 43°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 54° it makes 0.04 kWh per kWp a day, 1% more than at 43°, and costs 1% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Reykjavík at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 43° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 43° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0.12 | 0.35 | 0.29 | 0.24 | 0.8 °C |
| February | 0.55 | 1.26 | 1.11 | 0.98 | 0.6 °C |
| March | 1.66 | 2.60 | 2.31 | 2.26 | 1.2 °C |
| April | 3.29 | 3.78 | 3.35 | 3.61 | 3.2 °C |
| May | 4.70 | 4.39 | 3.84 | 4.49 | 5.8 °C |
| June | 5.04 | 4.23 | 3.65 | 4.43 | 9.2 °C |
| July | 4.56 | 3.98 | 3.41 | 4.07 | 11.0 °C |
| August | 3.55 | 3.72 | 3.20 | 3.57 | 10.5 °C |
| September | 2.05 | 2.82 | 2.45 | 2.48 | 8.1 °C |
| October | 0.89 | 1.80 | 1.57 | 1.43 | 4.7 °C |
| November | 0.21 | 0.59 | 0.50 | 0.42 | 2.3 °C |
| December | 0.05 | 0.06 | 0.04 | 0.04 | 1.0 °C |
| Year | 2.23 avg | 2.47 avg | 784 kWh | 854 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 28,140 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 27,740 Wp at 43°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Reykjavík
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 Reykjavík compares in Iceland
Against the other 5 places in Iceland with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
2ndof 6 places in Iceland for sunshine, shared: 2.23 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
±0%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Iceland: 854 against 854 kWh per kWp.
−21 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with the average place in Iceland: 21 h 08 min against 21 h 29 min.
43°best year-round tilt here; across Iceland it runs from 42° in Reykjanesbær to 47° in Akureyri.
Of the 6 places in Iceland, Akureyri gets the most sun (2.29 peak sun hours a day) and Keflavík and one other place the least (2.21); Reykjavík ranks joint 2nd. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 0.04 kWh a day here, against 0.03 kWh on average in Iceland. The shortest day lasts 4 h 07 min, +9 min compared with the average.
Solar forecast for Reykjavík, 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 Reykjavík
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A free, live card for Reykjavík: 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.