Sabah · Malaysia · 4.24° N · 117.89° E
Solar position in Tawau
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Tawau — computed for 4.24° N, 117.89° E, 0 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Tawau today
Sunday, 25 October 2026 · local time UTC+8
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 04:42 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 05:07 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 05:31 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 05:52 | 102° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 06:20 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 11:52 | 73.7° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:24 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:52 | 258° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:13 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:38 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 19:02 | 18° below |
| Day length | 11 h 59 min | |
Sun path diagram for Tawau
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 70.8° at solar noon in Tawau; on the December solstice only 62.3°. Sunrise swings from 66° ENE in June to 113° ESE in December — a 47° 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 | 06:22 | 12:19 | 18:17 | 11 h 55 min | 65.9° |
| February | 06:21 | 12:22 | 18:22 | 12 h 00 min | 75.2° |
| March | 06:12 | 12:15 | 18:19 | 12 h 07 min | 86.0° |
| April | 06:00 | 12:07 | 18:14 | 12 h 14 min | 82.4° |
| May | 05:55 | 12:04 | 18:14 | 12 h 20 min | 74.1° |
| June | 05:59 | 12:10 | 18:21 | 12 h 22 min | 70.8° |
| July | 06:04 | 12:14 | 18:24 | 12 h 20 min | 73.8° |
| August | 06:04 | 12:11 | 18:18 | 12 h 14 min | 82.1° |
| September | 05:58 | 12:01 | 18:05 | 12 h 07 min | 86.5° |
| October | 05:52 | 11:53 | 17:53 | 12 h 00 min | 75.1° |
| November | 05:56 | 11:54 | 17:51 | 11 h 55 min | 65.9° |
| December | 06:09 | 12:06 | 18:02 | 11 h 53 min | 62.3° |
A year of daylight in Tawau
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 Tawau
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
3°collects the most energy over a year: 1466 kWh per kWp.
5°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 | January kWh/kWp/day | Best ÷ worst month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0° | 1464 | 100% | 3.65 | 1.2× |
| 3° year-round best | 1466 | 100% | 3.72 | 1.2× |
| 4° = latitude | 1466 | 100% | 3.75 | 1.2× |
| 5° off-grid best | 1465 | 100% | 3.77 | 1.2× |
| 15° | 1442 | 98% | 3.92 | 1.2× |
| 30° | 1342 | 92% | 3.98 | 1.5× |
| 45° | 1172 | 80% | 3.82 | 1.9× |
| 60° | 948 | 65% | 3.46 | 2.6× |
| 70° | 790 | 54% | 3.12 | 3.0× |
| 90° | 540 | 37% | 2.24 | 2.4× |
A fixed array in Tawau produces the most over a year at 3°. The design month for an off-grid system is January: at 5° it makes 3.77 kWh per kWp a day, 1% more than at 3°, and costs 0% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Tawau at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 3° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 3° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.61 | 3.83 | 3.12 | 3.72 | 25.9 °C |
| February | 5.14 | 3.64 | 2.97 | 4.14 | 26.0 °C |
| March | 5.37 | 2.96 | 2.39 | 4.29 | 26.4 °C |
| April | 5.52 | 2.04 | 1.62 | 4.35 | 27.0 °C |
| May | 5.22 | 1.47 | 1.14 | 4.08 | 27.1 °C |
| June | 4.89 | 1.43 | 1.11 | 3.80 | 26.6 °C |
| July | 4.95 | 1.45 | 1.13 | 3.86 | 26.3 °C |
| August | 5.22 | 1.77 | 1.40 | 4.11 | 26.4 °C |
| September | 5.20 | 2.53 | 2.03 | 4.13 | 26.5 °C |
| October | 5.00 | 3.24 | 2.63 | 4.00 | 26.6 °C |
| November | 4.89 | 3.89 | 3.17 | 3.94 | 26.5 °C |
| December | 4.68 | 4.07 | 3.32 | 3.78 | 26.3 °C |
| Year | 5.06 avg | 2.69 avg | 790 kWh | 1466 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 1,060 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 320 Wp at 3°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Tawau
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.
1.8 mrow pitch at 70°
2.1 mrow pitch at 3°
How Tawau compares in Malaysia
Against the other 349 places in Malaysia with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
32ndof 350 places in Malaysia for sunshine, shared: 5.06 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+4%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Malaysia: 1,466 against 1,411 kWh per kWp.
+4 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Kuala Lumpur: 12 h 22 min against 12 h 18 min.
3°best year-round tilt here; across Malaysia it runs from 0° in Kuching to 7° in Kangar.
Of the 350 places in Malaysia, Kuala Penyu gets the most sun (5.27 peak sun hours a day) and Pekan Nenas and 3 other places the least (4.60); Tawau ranks joint 32nd. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.11 kWh a day here, against 1.18 kWh on average in Malaysia. The shortest day lasts 11 h 53 min, −4 min compared with Kuala Lumpur.
Solar forecast for Tawau, 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 Tawau
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A free, live card for Tawau: 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.