Cantabria · Spain · 43.47° N · 3.80° W
Solar position in Santander
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Santander — computed for 43.47° N, 3.80° W, 1 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Santander today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC+2
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 07:04 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 07:37 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 08:11 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 08:40 | 106° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 09:20 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:59 | 34.7° high |
| Golden hour starts | 18:38 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 19:17 | 254° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 19:47 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 20:20 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 20:53 | 18° below |
| Day length | 10 h 38 min | |
Sun path diagram for Santander
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 70.0° at solar noon in Santander; on the December solstice only 23.1°. Sunrise swings from 56° NE in June to 122° ESE in December — a 66° 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 | 08:41 | 13:26 | 18:11 | 9 h 31 min | 26.7° |
| February | 08:04 | 13:29 | 18:53 | 10 h 49 min | 36.1° |
| March | 07:16 | 13:22 | 19:28 | 12 h 12 min | 46.9° |
| April | 07:23 | 14:14 | 21:05 | 13 h 42 min | 58.5° |
| May | 06:44 | 14:11 | 21:39 | 14 h 54 min | 66.8° |
| June | 06:34 | 14:17 | 21:59 | 15 h 25 min | 70.0° |
| July | 06:53 | 14:21 | 21:49 | 14 h 56 min | 66.9° |
| August | 07:26 | 14:18 | 21:09 | 13 h 42 min | 58.5° |
| September | 08:01 | 14:08 | 20:14 | 12 h 13 min | 47.1° |
| October | 08:36 | 13:59 | 19:22 | 10 h 46 min | 35.8° |
| November | 08:16 | 13:00 | 17:45 | 9 h 29 min | 26.6° |
| December | 08:44 | 13:13 | 17:41 | 8 h 57 min | 23.1° |
A year of daylight in Santander
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 Santander
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
34°collects the most energy over a year: 1268 kWh per kWp.
63°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° | 1082 | 85% | 1.00 | 4.7× |
| 15° | 1207 | 95% | 1.45 | 3.3× |
| 30° | 1264 | 100% | 1.80 | 2.6× |
| 34° year-round best | 1268 | 100% | 1.88 | 2.4× |
| 43° = latitude | 1256 | 99% | 2.03 | 2.1× |
| 45° | 1250 | 99% | 2.05 | 2.1× |
| 60° | 1166 | 92% | 2.17 | 1.8× |
| 63° off-grid best | 1141 | 90% | 2.18 | 1.8× |
| 70° | 1074 | 85% | 2.17 | 1.7× |
| 90° | 820 | 65% | 2.00 | 1.5× |
A fixed array in Santander produces the most over a year at 34°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 63° it makes 2.18 kWh per kWp a day, 16% more than at 34°, and costs 10% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Santander at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 34° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 34° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 1.42 | 2.47 | 2.14 | 1.92 | 9.7 °C |
| February | 2.24 | 3.16 | 2.74 | 2.69 | 9.4 °C |
| March | 3.45 | 3.82 | 3.31 | 3.62 | 11.0 °C |
| April | 4.57 | 3.90 | 3.35 | 4.19 | 12.5 °C |
| May | 5.44 | 3.77 | 3.19 | 4.51 | 14.8 °C |
| June | 5.75 | 3.58 | 2.99 | 4.49 | 18.0 °C |
| July | 5.78 | 3.72 | 3.09 | 4.56 | 20.0 °C |
| August | 5.16 | 4.02 | 3.34 | 4.42 | 20.8 °C |
| September | 4.20 | 4.29 | 3.59 | 4.12 | 19.4 °C |
| October | 2.75 | 3.61 | 3.05 | 3.10 | 16.8 °C |
| November | 1.63 | 2.72 | 2.33 | 2.14 | 12.7 °C |
| December | 1.30 | 2.51 | 2.17 | 1.88 | 10.5 °C |
| Year | 3.65 avg | 3.47 avg | 1074 kWh | 1268 kWh |
Sizing example. To run a 1 kWh-per-day load through January on LiFePO4 batteries (charge controller, battery and inverter losses included) you need about 550 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 630 Wp at 34°. The steep array is 12% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Santander
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.
5.9 mrow pitch at 70°
4.7 mrow pitch at 34°
How Santander compares in Spain
Against the other 543 places in Spain with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
544thof 544 places in Spain for sunshine: 3.65 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−21%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Spain: 1,268 against 1,601 kWh per kWp.
+22 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Madrid: 15 h 25 min against 15 h 04 min.
34°best year-round tilt here; across Spain it runs from 24° in Arona to 36° in Girona.
Santander gets the least sun of the 544 places in Spain (3.65 peak sun hours a day); the sunniest are Playa del Ingles and one other place with 5.53. In its darkest month, January, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 2.14 kWh a day here, against 3.03 kWh on average in Spain. The shortest day lasts 8 h 57 min, −20 min compared with Madrid.
Solar forecast for Santander, 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 Santander
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Places near Santander
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A free, live card for Santander: 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.