Wellington Region · New Zealand · 41.14° S · 175.05° E
Solar position in Upper Hutt
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Upper Hutt — computed for 41.14° S, 175.05° E, 60 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Upper Hutt today
Sunday, 25 October 2026 · local time UTC+13
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 04:35 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 05:12 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 05:47 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 06:16 | 107° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 06:54 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:04 | 60.9° high |
| Golden hour starts | 19:14 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 19:51 | 253° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 20:20 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 20:56 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 21:33 | 18° below |
| Day length | 13 h 35 min | |
Sun path diagram for Upper Hutt
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 25.5° at solar noon in Upper Hutt; on the December solstice only 72.3°. Sunrise swings from 59° ENE in June to 123° ESE in December — a 64° 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 | 06:11 | 13:30 | 20:49 | 14 h 38 min | 68.8° |
| February | 06:50 | 13:33 | 20:15 | 13 h 25 min | 59.5° |
| March | 07:22 | 13:26 | 19:30 | 12 h 08 min | 48.7° |
| April | 06:55 | 12:18 | 17:40 | 10 h 45 min | 37.1° |
| May | 07:25 | 12:16 | 17:06 | 9 h 40 min | 28.7° |
| June | 07:45 | 12:21 | 16:57 | 9 h 12 min | 25.5° |
| July | 07:37 | 12:26 | 17:15 | 9 h 37 min | 28.4° |
| August | 07:02 | 12:23 | 17:44 | 10 h 42 min | 36.7° |
| September | 06:11 | 12:13 | 18:15 | 12 h 03 min | 48.1° |
| October | 06:22 | 13:04 | 19:47 | 13 h 24 min | 59.5° |
| November | 05:47 | 13:05 | 20:24 | 14 h 37 min | 68.7° |
| December | 05:43 | 13:17 | 20:52 | 15 h 09 min | 72.3° |
A year of daylight in Upper Hutt
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 Upper Hutt
Fixed array facing north (azimuth 0°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
35°collects the most energy over a year: 1474 kWh per kWp.
65°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° | 1245 | 84% | 1.20 | 4.6× |
| 15° | 1398 | 95% | 1.75 | 3.2× |
| 30° | 1469 | 100% | 2.18 | 2.5× |
| 35° year-round best | 1474 | 100% | 2.30 | 2.3× |
| 41° = latitude | 1467 | 100% | 2.41 | 2.1× |
| 45° | 1454 | 99% | 2.48 | 2.0× |
| 60° | 1356 | 92% | 2.62 | 1.7× |
| 65° off-grid best | 1305 | 89% | 2.63 | 1.6× |
| 70° | 1247 | 85% | 2.62 | 1.5× |
| 90° | 945 | 64% | 2.40 | 1.6× |
A fixed array in Upper Hutt produces the most over a year at 35°. The design month for an off-grid system is June: at 65° it makes 2.63 kWh per kWp a day, 14% more than at 35°, and costs 11% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Upper Hutt at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 35° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 35° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.72 | 4.11 | 3.47 | 5.26 | 16.8 °C |
| February | 5.88 | 4.54 | 3.83 | 5.11 | 17.2 °C |
| March | 4.57 | 4.65 | 3.95 | 4.56 | 16.0 °C |
| April | 3.09 | 4.22 | 3.61 | 3.65 | 14.0 °C |
| May | 2.08 | 3.60 | 3.11 | 2.85 | 12.3 °C |
| June | 1.54 | 3.02 | 2.62 | 2.30 | 10.5 °C |
| July | 1.76 | 3.26 | 2.84 | 2.54 | 9.5 °C |
| August | 2.59 | 3.87 | 3.37 | 3.27 | 9.8 °C |
| September | 3.78 | 4.30 | 3.72 | 4.07 | 10.7 °C |
| October | 5.06 | 4.32 | 3.73 | 4.69 | 11.8 °C |
| November | 6.26 | 4.12 | 3.52 | 5.13 | 13.3 °C |
| December | 6.58 | 3.85 | 3.25 | 5.07 | 15.3 °C |
| Year | 4.15 avg | 3.98 avg | 1247 kWh | 1474 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 450 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 510 Wp at 35°. The steep array is 12% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Upper Hutt
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.
5.3 mrow pitch at 70°
4.4 mrow pitch at 35°
How Upper Hutt compares in New Zealand
Against the other 46 places in New Zealand with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
28thof 47 places in New Zealand for sunshine, shared: 4.15 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+1%solar energy a year compared with the average place in New Zealand: 1,474 against 1,455 kWh per kWp.
+27 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Auckland: 15 h 09 min against 14 h 42 min.
35°best year-round tilt here; across New Zealand it runs from 30° in Whangarei to 39° in Dunedin.
Of the 47 places in New Zealand, Whangarei gets the most sun (4.36 peak sun hours a day) and Invercargill the least (3.46); Upper Hutt ranks joint 28th. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 2.62 kWh a day here, against 2.77 kWh on average in New Zealand. The shortest day lasts 9 h 12 min, −26 min compared with Auckland.
Solar forecast for Upper Hutt, 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 Upper Hutt
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Places near Upper Hutt
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A free, live card for Upper Hutt: 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.