Cesar Department · Colombia · 10.47° N · 73.25° W
Solar position in Valledupar
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Valledupar — computed for 10.47° N, 73.25° W, 160 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Valledupar today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−5
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 04:31 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 04:56 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 05:21 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 05:42 | 102° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 06:11 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 11:37 | 67.6° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:03 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:31 | 258° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 17:53 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:17 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 18:42 | 18° below |
| Day length | 11 h 49 min | |
Sun path diagram for Valledupar
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 77.0° at solar noon in Valledupar; on the December solstice only 56.1°. 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 | 06:15 | 12:04 | 17:52 | 11 h 37 min | 59.8° |
| February | 06:10 | 12:06 | 18:02 | 11 h 51 min | 69.2° |
| March | 05:56 | 12:00 | 18:03 | 12 h 07 min | 80.0° |
| April | 05:39 | 11:51 | 18:04 | 12 h 25 min | 88.4° |
| May | 05:30 | 11:49 | 18:08 | 12 h 39 min | 80.2° |
| June | 05:32 | 11:54 | 18:17 | 12 h 44 min | 77.0° |
| July | 05:40 | 11:59 | 18:18 | 12 h 39 min | 80.1° |
| August | 05:43 | 11:56 | 18:08 | 12 h 25 min | 88.5° |
| September | 05:42 | 11:45 | 17:49 | 12 h 07 min | 80.0° |
| October | 05:42 | 11:37 | 17:32 | 11 h 51 min | 68.7° |
| November | 05:50 | 11:38 | 17:27 | 11 h 36 min | 59.5° |
| December | 06:05 | 11:51 | 17:36 | 11 h 31 min | 56.1° |
A year of daylight in Valledupar
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 Valledupar
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: 1547 kWh per kWp.
8°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° | 1520 | 98% | 3.99 | 1.3× |
| 8° off-grid best | 1544 | 100% | 3.88 | 1.2× |
| 10° = latitude | 1546 | 100% | 3.84 | 1.3× |
| 12° year-round best | 1547 | 100% | 3.80 | 1.3× |
| 15° | 1545 | 100% | 3.73 | 1.3× |
| 30° | 1484 | 96% | 3.28 | 1.6× |
| 45° | 1341 | 87% | 2.67 | 2.0× |
| 60° | 1130 | 73% | 1.94 | 2.7× |
| 70° | 962 | 62% | 1.46 | 3.5× |
| 90° | 660 | 43% | 1.08 | 3.2× |
A fixed array in Valledupar produces the most over a year at 12°. The design month for an off-grid system is May: at 8° it makes 3.88 kWh per kWp a day, 2% more than at 12°, and costs 0% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Valledupar 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 | 5.40 | 5.43 | 4.47 | 4.80 | 24.4 °C |
| February | 5.77 | 4.68 | 3.83 | 4.91 | 25.3 °C |
| March | 5.47 | 3.37 | 2.74 | 4.44 | 25.9 °C |
| April | 5.10 | 2.36 | 1.89 | 3.98 | 26.0 °C |
| May | 5.01 | 1.84 | 1.46 | 3.80 | 25.6 °C |
| June | 5.34 | 1.64 | 1.29 | 3.98 | 25.8 °C |
| July | 5.52 | 1.70 | 1.34 | 4.13 | 26.0 °C |
| August | 5.45 | 2.15 | 1.72 | 4.19 | 26.0 °C |
| September | 5.28 | 2.93 | 2.37 | 4.22 | 25.3 °C |
| October | 4.82 | 3.49 | 2.86 | 4.00 | 24.3 °C |
| November | 4.60 | 4.14 | 3.41 | 3.98 | 23.9 °C |
| December | 5.00 | 5.23 | 4.31 | 4.48 | 24.1 °C |
| Year | 5.23 avg | 3.24 avg | 962 kWh | 1547 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 920 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 310 Wp at 12°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Valledupar
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 Valledupar compares in Colombia
Against the other 316 places in Colombia with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
64thof 317 places in Colombia for sunshine, shared: 5.23 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+10%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Colombia: 1,547 against 1,407 kWh per kWp.
+21 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Bogotá: 12 h 44 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.
Of the 317 places in Colombia, Santa Marta and 3 other places get the most sun (5.54 peak sun hours a day) and Ipiales the least (3.81); Valledupar ranks joint 64th. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.29 kWh a day here, against 1.18 kWh on average in Colombia. The shortest day lasts 11 h 31 min, −21 min compared with Bogotá.
Solar forecast for Valledupar, 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 Valledupar
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Places near Valledupar
Put this on your site
A free, live card for Valledupar: 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.