Solarposition.org

Free State · South Africa · 28.70° S · 26.46° E

Solar position in Winnie Mandela

Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Winnie Mandela — computed for 28.70° S, 26.46° E, 1402 m above sea level.

Sunrise today05:28104° ESE
Sunset today18:28256° WSW
Best panel angle29°year-round, facing north
Off-grid angle33°best for the darkest month

The sun right now

Azimuth180.0°
Elevation73.1°
At solar noon, 11:58Open on the sun map

Sun in Winnie Mandela today

Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC+2

EventTimeDirection / height
Astronomical dawn04:05sun 18° below horizon
Nautical dawn04:3512° below
Civil dawn05:036° below
Sunrise05:28104° ESE
Golden hour ends06:00sun 6° up
Solar noon11:5873.1° high
Golden hour starts17:56sun 6° up
Sunset18:28256° WSW
Civil dusk18:536° below
Nautical dusk19:2212° below
Astronomical dusk19:5118° below
Day length13 h 00 min

Sun path diagram for Winnie Mandela

Where the sun stands in the sky: the centre is straight overhead, the outer ring is the horizon. Numbers mark local clock hours.

15°30°45°60°75°N30°60°E120°150°S210°240°W300°330°June solstice891011121314151617EquinoxDecember solstice678910111213141516171819Today
  • June solstice
  • Equinox
  • December solstice
  • Today

On the June solstice the sun reaches 37.9° at solar noon in Winnie Mandela; on the December solstice only 84.7°. Sunrise swings from 64° ENE in June to 117° ESE in December — a 54° 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.

MonthSunriseSolar noonSunsetDay lengthNoon elevation
January05:3512:2519:1513 h 40 min81.2°
February06:0012:2718:5412 h 54 min71.8°
March06:1812:2118:2412 h 06 min61.0°
April06:3512:1217:4911 h 15 min49.4°
May06:5312:1017:2810 h 35 min41.1°
June07:0612:1517:2510 h 19 min37.9°
July07:0312:2017:3710 h 34 min40.9°
August06:4012:1717:5411 h 14 min49.3°
September06:0512:0718:0912 h 05 min60.7°
October05:3111:5818:2612 h 56 min72.1°
November05:1012:0018:5013 h 40 min81.3°
December05:1212:1219:1113 h 59 min84.7°

A year of daylight in Winnie Mandela

Each column is one day of 2026. Bright: sun above the horizon; soft: civil twilight; line: solar noon. Steps are daylight saving time changes.

00:0003:0006:0009:0012:0015:0018:0021:0000:00JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Best solar panel angle in Winnie Mandela

Fixed array facing north (azimuth 0°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.

29°collects the most energy over a year: 1964 kWh per kWp.

33°gives the most in the darkest month — the one an off-grid system is sized for.

20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%0°10°20°30°40°50°60°70°80°90°Best year-round 29°Best worst-month 33°70°Yearly energyWorst-month energy
  • Yearly energy
  • Worst-month energy
TiltkWh/kWp per yearShare of best yearJune kWh/kWp/dayBest ÷ worst month
0°173588%3.042.1×
15°190997%4.171.5×
29° year-round best = latitude1964100%4.971.2×
30°1964100%5.021.2×
33° off-grid best1961100%5.151.2×
45°190097%5.521.3×
60°172288%5.671.8×
70°154779%5.562.3×
90°110356%4.864.6×

A fixed array in Winnie Mandela produces the most over a year at 29°. The design month for an off-grid system is June: at 33° it makes 5.15 kWh per kWp a day, 4% more than at 29°, and costs 0% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.

Off-grid solar in Winnie Mandela at 70°

Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 29° (year-round best).

01234567January: 2.64 (70°)2.6JanFebruary: 3.24 (70°)3.2FebMarch: 4.01 (70°)4.0MarApril: 4.62 (70°)4.6AprMay: 5.28 (70°)5.3MayJune: 5.56 (70°)5.6JunJuly: 5.84 (70°)5.8JulAugust: 5.54 (70°)5.5AugSeptember: 4.86 (70°)4.9SepOctober: 3.80 (70°)3.8OctNovember: 2.93 (70°)2.9NovDecember: 2.50 (70°)2.5Dec29°
MonthSun hours, flatSun hours at 70°kWh/kWp/day at 70°at 29°Mean temp.
January7.513.232.645.3324.0 °C
February6.743.943.245.2923.1 °C
March5.964.814.015.3120.9 °C
April4.845.444.625.0516.5 °C
May4.126.135.285.0312.7 °C
June3.706.375.564.978.8 °C
July4.056.685.845.328.5 °C
August4.896.415.545.6211.4 °C
September6.035.724.865.8716.1 °C
October6.924.543.805.7619.6 °C
November7.663.552.935.6321.4 °C
December7.783.062.505.3823.4 °C
Year5.85 avg4.99 avg1547 kWh1964 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 470 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 240 Wp at 29°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.

Row spacing in Winnie Mandela

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.

3.4 mrow pitch at 70°

3.1 mrow pitch at 29°

Row spacing calculator

How Winnie Mandela compares in South Africa

Against the other 294 places in South Africa with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.

19thof 295 places in South Africa for sunshine, shared: 5.85 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.

+9%solar energy a year compared with the average place in South Africa: 1,964 against 1,806 kWh per kWp.

+12 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Johannesburg: 13 h 59 min against 13 h 47 min.

29°best year-round tilt here; across South Africa it runs from 24° in Thohoyandou to 32° in East London.

Of the 295 places in South Africa, Upington gets the most sun (6.28 peak sun hours a day) and Port Shepstone the least (4.46); Winnie Mandela ranks joint 19th. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 2.50 kWh a day here, against 2.42 kWh on average in South Africa. The shortest day lasts 10 h 19 min, −11 min compared with Johannesburg.

The sunniest places in South Africa

Solar forecast for Winnie Mandela, next 48 hours

Expected output of 1 kWp at 70°, computed from the ICON-EU weather model of the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), Europe.

Loading the latest forecast…

Questions about the sun in Winnie Mandela

What is the best solar panel angle in Winnie Mandela?
For a fixed array facing north, the best year-round tilt in Winnie Mandela is 29°, worth about 1964 kWh per kWp a year. An off-grid system that has to get through June does better at about 33°.
What time is sunrise and sunset in Winnie Mandela today?
On 24 October 2026 the sun rises at 05:28 and sets at 18:28 local time (UTC+2), giving 13 h 00 min of daylight. Solar noon is at 11:58.
How many peak sun hours does Winnie Mandela get?
On a flat surface 5.8 hours a day averaged over the year, from 3.7 in June to 7.8 in December. Panels tilted at 70° receive 3.1 sun hours a day in December.
How high does the sun get in Winnie Mandela?
At solar noon the sun stands 37.9° above the horizon on the June solstice and 84.7° on the December solstice.
Is Winnie Mandela a good place for solar panels?
With 5.8 peak sun hours a day on flat ground, Winnie Mandela ranks joint 19th of 295 places in South Africa for sunshine. A 1 kWp array at the best angle (29°) makes about 1,964 kWh a year here, 9% more than the average place in South Africa.

Places near Winnie Mandela

All places in South Africa

Put this on your site

A free, live card for Winnie Mandela: 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.

Theme

Paste it into any page, blog or CMS that accepts HTML. Auto follows the visitor's light or dark system setting. Free to use with its link.

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.