Antofagasta · Chile · 22.09° S · 70.20° W
Solar position in Tocopilla
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Tocopilla — computed for 22.09° S, 70.20° W, 37 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Tocopilla today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−3
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 05:44 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:11 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 06:38 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 07:01 | 103° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 07:31 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:25 | 79.8° high |
| Golden hour starts | 19:18 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 19:48 | 257° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 20:11 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 20:38 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 21:06 | 18° below |
| Day length | 12 h 47 min | |
Sun path diagram for Tocopilla
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 44.5° at solar noon in Tocopilla; on the December solstice only 88.7°. Sunrise swings from 65° ENE in June to 116° ESE in December — a 51° 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 | 07:14 | 13:52 | 20:29 | 13 h 15 min | 87.7° |
| February | 07:33 | 13:54 | 20:14 | 12 h 41 min | 78.3° |
| March | 07:44 | 13:47 | 19:50 | 12 h 06 min | 67.5° |
| April | 06:55 | 12:39 | 18:23 | 11 h 28 min | 55.9° |
| May | 07:07 | 12:37 | 18:06 | 10 h 59 min | 47.6° |
| June | 07:19 | 12:42 | 18:06 | 10 h 47 min | 44.5° |
| July | 07:18 | 12:47 | 18:16 | 10 h 58 min | 47.6° |
| August | 07:00 | 12:44 | 18:27 | 11 h 28 min | 56.0° |
| September | 07:31 | 13:33 | 19:36 | 12 h 05 min | 67.4° |
| October | 07:04 | 13:25 | 19:47 | 12 h 43 min | 78.8° |
| November | 06:48 | 13:26 | 20:04 | 13 h 16 min | 87.9° |
| December | 06:54 | 13:38 | 20:23 | 13 h 29 min | 88.7° |
A year of daylight in Tocopilla
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 Tocopilla
Fixed array facing north (azimuth 0°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
18°collects the most energy over a year: 1912 kWh per kWp.
46°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 | June kWh/kWp/day | Best ÷ worst month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0° | 1828 | 96% | 2.93 | 2.3× |
| 15° | 1909 | 100% | 3.59 | 1.8× |
| 18° year-round best | 1912 | 100% | 3.69 | 1.7× |
| 22° = latitude | 1908 | 100% | 3.82 | 1.6× |
| 30° | 1877 | 98% | 4.02 | 1.5× |
| 45° | 1734 | 91% | 4.21 | 1.3× |
| 46° off-grid best | 1721 | 90% | 4.22 | 1.3× |
| 60° | 1492 | 78% | 4.15 | 1.7× |
| 70° | 1286 | 67% | 3.97 | 2.2× |
| 90° | 845 | 44% | 3.28 | 3.5× |
A fixed array in Tocopilla produces the most over a year at 18°. The design month for an off-grid system is June: at 46° it makes 4.22 kWh per kWp a day, 14% more than at 18°, and costs 10% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Tocopilla at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 18° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 18° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8.20 | 2.75 | 2.26 | 6.15 | 20.7 °C |
| February | 7.75 | 3.71 | 3.07 | 6.15 | 21.2 °C |
| March | 6.92 | 4.84 | 4.04 | 5.94 | 20.3 °C |
| April | 5.59 | 5.46 | 4.59 | 5.24 | 18.8 °C |
| May | 4.33 | 5.18 | 4.38 | 4.32 | 17.4 °C |
| June | 3.61 | 4.66 | 3.97 | 3.69 | 16.1 °C |
| July | 3.79 | 4.69 | 4.00 | 3.84 | 15.3 °C |
| August | 4.59 | 4.78 | 4.08 | 4.42 | 15.2 °C |
| September | 5.71 | 4.57 | 3.89 | 5.13 | 15.4 °C |
| October | 6.90 | 3.94 | 3.34 | 5.76 | 16.3 °C |
| November | 7.86 | 3.04 | 2.54 | 6.10 | 17.5 °C |
| December | 8.33 | 2.54 | 2.10 | 6.19 | 19.0 °C |
| Year | 6.12 avg | 4.18 avg | 1286 kWh | 1912 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 560 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 320 Wp at 18°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Tocopilla
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.
2.8 mrow pitch at 70°
2.6 mrow pitch at 18°
How Tocopilla compares in Chile
Against the other 138 places in Chile with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
5thof 139 places in Chile for sunshine, shared: 6.12 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+15%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Chile: 1,912 against 1,668 kWh per kWp.
−53 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Santiago: 13 h 29 min against 14 h 23 min.
18°best year-round tilt here; across Chile it runs from 16° in Arica to 43° in Punta Arenas.
Of the 139 places in Chile, Calama gets the most sun (7.19 peak sun hours a day) and Puerto Natales the least (2.73); Tocopilla ranks joint 5th. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 2.10 kWh a day here, against 2.61 kWh on average in Chile. The shortest day lasts 10 h 47 min, +51 min compared with Santiago.
Solar forecast for Tocopilla, 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 Tocopilla
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A free, live card for Tocopilla: 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.