Riyadh Region · Saudi Arabia · 24.69° N · 46.72° E
Solar position in Riyadh
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Riyadh — computed for 24.69° N, 46.72° E, 612 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Riyadh today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC+3
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 04:38 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 05:05 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 05:32 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 05:55 | 103° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 06:26 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 11:37 | 53.5° high |
| Golden hour starts | 16:47 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:18 | 257° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 17:42 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:08 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 18:35 | 18° below |
| Day length | 11 h 23 min | |
Sun path diagram for Riyadh
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 88.8° at solar noon in Riyadh; on the December solstice only 41.9°. Sunrise swings from 64° ENE in June to 116° ESE in December — a 52° 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 | 06:38 | 12:04 | 17:30 | 10 h 52 min | 45.5° |
| February | 06:22 | 12:06 | 17:51 | 11 h 28 min | 54.8° |
| March | 05:56 | 12:00 | 18:04 | 12 h 08 min | 65.6° |
| April | 05:26 | 11:51 | 18:17 | 12 h 52 min | 77.2° |
| May | 05:06 | 11:49 | 18:32 | 13 h 26 min | 85.5° |
| June | 05:04 | 11:54 | 18:45 | 13 h 40 min | 88.8° |
| July | 05:16 | 11:59 | 18:42 | 13 h 27 min | 85.7° |
| August | 05:29 | 11:56 | 18:22 | 12 h 52 min | 77.4° |
| September | 05:41 | 11:46 | 17:50 | 12 h 09 min | 66.0° |
| October | 05:53 | 11:37 | 17:21 | 11 h 27 min | 54.6° |
| November | 06:13 | 11:38 | 17:04 | 10 h 51 min | 45.4° |
| December | 06:32 | 11:51 | 17:09 | 10 h 36 min | 41.9° |
A year of daylight in Riyadh
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 Riyadh
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
23°collects the most energy over a year: 1908 kWh per kWp.
32°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° | 1780 | 93% | 3.38 | 1.8× |
| 15° | 1893 | 99% | 4.26 | 1.4× |
| 23° year-round best | 1908 | 100% | 4.63 | 1.2× |
| 25° = latitude | 1907 | 100% | 4.71 | 1.2× |
| 30° | 1896 | 99% | 4.88 | 1.1× |
| 32° off-grid best | 1888 | 99% | 4.94 | 1.1× |
| 45° | 1789 | 94% | 5.19 | 1.3× |
| 60° | 1582 | 83% | 5.18 | 1.7× |
| 70° | 1396 | 73% | 5.00 | 2.2× |
| 90° | 963 | 50% | 4.22 | 3.7× |
A fixed array in Riyadh produces the most over a year at 23°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 32° it makes 4.94 kWh per kWp a day, 7% more than at 23°, and costs 1% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Riyadh at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 23° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 23° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.42 | 5.86 | 5.03 | 4.82 | 13.4 °C |
| February | 5.27 | 5.61 | 4.77 | 5.21 | 16.2 °C |
| March | 6.16 | 5.05 | 4.21 | 5.46 | 20.8 °C |
| April | 6.70 | 4.05 | 3.30 | 5.32 | 26.1 °C |
| May | 7.40 | 3.38 | 2.68 | 5.37 | 31.6 °C |
| June | 7.99 | 2.95 | 2.30 | 5.49 | 34.1 °C |
| July | 7.72 | 3.08 | 2.40 | 5.37 | 35.6 °C |
| August | 7.32 | 3.78 | 2.96 | 5.41 | 35.3 °C |
| September | 6.77 | 4.88 | 3.89 | 5.54 | 32.0 °C |
| October | 5.86 | 5.79 | 4.71 | 5.42 | 26.8 °C |
| November | 4.54 | 5.65 | 4.72 | 4.70 | 20.1 °C |
| December | 4.15 | 5.85 | 5.00 | 4.63 | 14.8 °C |
| Year | 6.20 avg | 4.66 avg | 1396 kWh | 1908 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 510 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 250 Wp at 23°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Riyadh
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.
3.0 mrow pitch at 70°
2.8 mrow pitch at 23°
How Riyadh compares in Saudi Arabia
Against the other 95 places in Saudi Arabia with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
34thof 96 places in Saudi Arabia for sunshine, shared: 6.20 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+2%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Saudi Arabia: 1,908 against 1,871 kWh per kWp.
+14 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Jeddah: 13 h 40 min against 13 h 27 min.
23°best year-round tilt here; across Saudi Arabia it runs from 17° in Şabyā to 28° in Ţurayf.
Of the 96 places in Saudi Arabia, Al Mash‘ilīyah gets the most sun (6.60 peak sun hours a day) and Al Khafjī the least (5.24); Riyadh ranks joint 34th. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 2.30 kWh a day here, against 2.26 kWh on average in Saudi Arabia. The shortest day lasts 10 h 36 min, −13 min compared with Jeddah.
Solar forecast for Riyadh, 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 Riyadh
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A free, live card for Riyadh: 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.