Magdalena Department · Colombia · 11.24° N · 74.19° W
Solar position in Santa Marta
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Santa Marta — computed for 11.24° N, 74.19° W, 14 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Santa Marta today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−5
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 04:35 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 05:00 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 05:25 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 05:47 | 102° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 06:15 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 11:40 | 66.8° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:06 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:34 | 258° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 17:56 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:21 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 18:45 | 18° below |
| Day length | 11 h 48 min | |
Sun path diagram for Santa Marta
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 77.8° at solar noon in Santa Marta; on the December solstice only 55.3°. 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 | 06:20 | 12:08 | 17:55 | 11 h 35 min | 59.0° |
| February | 06:15 | 12:10 | 18:05 | 11 h 50 min | 68.4° |
| March | 06:00 | 12:03 | 18:07 | 12 h 07 min | 79.2° |
| April | 05:42 | 11:55 | 18:08 | 12 h 26 min | 89.2° |
| May | 05:32 | 11:53 | 18:13 | 12 h 41 min | 81.0° |
| June | 05:35 | 11:58 | 18:22 | 12 h 47 min | 77.8° |
| July | 05:42 | 12:03 | 18:23 | 12 h 41 min | 80.9° |
| August | 05:46 | 11:59 | 18:12 | 12 h 26 min | 89.3° |
| September | 05:46 | 11:49 | 17:53 | 12 h 07 min | 79.3° |
| October | 05:46 | 11:41 | 17:35 | 11 h 49 min | 67.9° |
| November | 05:55 | 11:42 | 17:29 | 11 h 34 min | 58.8° |
| December | 06:10 | 11:54 | 17:39 | 11 h 28 min | 55.3° |
A year of daylight in Santa Marta
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 Santa Marta
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
12°collects the most energy over a year: 1631 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 | May kWh/kWp/day | Best ÷ worst month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0° | 1600 | 98% | 4.28 | 1.3× |
| 11° off-grid best = latitude | 1630 | 100% | 4.10 | 1.2× |
| 12° year-round best | 1631 | 100% | 4.08 | 1.2× |
| 15° | 1629 | 100% | 4.00 | 1.3× |
| 30° | 1566 | 96% | 3.52 | 1.5× |
| 45° | 1417 | 87% | 2.85 | 2.0× |
| 60° | 1193 | 73% | 2.06 | 2.7× |
| 70° | 1014 | 62% | 1.53 | 3.5× |
| 90° | 690 | 42% | 1.10 | 3.3× |
A fixed array in Santa Marta produces the most over a year at 12°. The design month for an off-grid system is May: at 11° it makes 4.10 kWh per kWp a day, and costs 0% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Santa Marta at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 12° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 12° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.54 | 5.68 | 4.64 | 4.90 | 26.0 °C |
| February | 5.99 | 4.94 | 4.03 | 5.09 | 26.2 °C |
| March | 6.04 | 3.76 | 3.06 | 4.91 | 26.6 °C |
| April | 5.81 | 2.61 | 2.09 | 4.52 | 27.1 °C |
| May | 5.41 | 1.94 | 1.53 | 4.08 | 27.3 °C |
| June | 5.61 | 1.69 | 1.32 | 4.15 | 27.6 °C |
| July | 5.81 | 1.77 | 1.39 | 4.32 | 27.6 °C |
| August | 5.79 | 2.26 | 1.80 | 4.42 | 27.8 °C |
| September | 5.56 | 3.10 | 2.50 | 4.42 | 27.7 °C |
| October | 5.06 | 3.72 | 3.02 | 4.17 | 27.3 °C |
| November | 4.81 | 4.43 | 3.60 | 4.13 | 27.0 °C |
| December | 5.11 | 5.44 | 4.44 | 4.54 | 26.6 °C |
| Year | 5.54 avg | 3.44 avg | 1014 kWh | 1631 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 890 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 290 Wp at 12°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Santa Marta
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 12°
How Santa Marta compares in Colombia
Against the other 316 places in Colombia with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
1stof 317 places in Colombia for sunshine, shared: 5.54 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+16%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Colombia: 1,631 against 1,407 kWh per kWp.
+24 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Bogotá: 12 h 47 min against 12 h 23 min.
12°best year-round tilt here; across Colombia it runs from 0° in Puerto Leguízamo to 13° in San Andrés.
Santa Marta shares the top spot for sunshine among the 317 places in Colombia (5.54 peak sun hours a day); the least sunny is Ipiales with 3.81. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.32 kWh a day here, against 1.18 kWh on average in Colombia. The shortest day lasts 11 h 28 min, −23 min compared with Bogotá.
Solar forecast for Santa Marta, 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 Santa Marta
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Places near Santa Marta
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A free, live card for Santa Marta: 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.