Gansu · China · 38.93° N · 100.45° E
Solar position in Zhangye
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Zhangye — computed for 38.93° N, 100.45° E, 1481 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Zhangye today
Sunday, 25 October 2026 · local time UTC+8
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 06:08 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:39 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 07:10 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 07:37 | 105° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 08:14 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:02 | 39.0° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:49 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:26 | 255° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:53 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:24 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 19:55 | 18° below |
| Day length | 10 h 49 min | |
Sun path diagram for Zhangye
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 74.5° at solar noon in Zhangye; on the December solstice only 27.7°. Sunrise swings from 58° ENE in June to 120° ESE in December — a 62° 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 | 08:32 | 13:29 | 18:26 | 9 h 54 min | 31.2° |
| February | 08:02 | 13:32 | 19:01 | 10 h 59 min | 40.5° |
| March | 07:20 | 13:25 | 19:30 | 12 h 10 min | 51.3° |
| April | 06:33 | 13:17 | 20:00 | 13 h 27 min | 62.9° |
| May | 06:01 | 13:14 | 20:28 | 14 h 28 min | 71.3° |
| June | 05:52 | 13:19 | 20:47 | 14 h 54 min | 74.5° |
| July | 06:09 | 13:24 | 20:39 | 14 h 30 min | 71.5° |
| August | 06:36 | 13:21 | 20:05 | 13 h 29 min | 63.2° |
| September | 07:04 | 13:11 | 19:17 | 12 h 13 min | 51.8° |
| October | 07:33 | 13:02 | 18:31 | 10 h 58 min | 40.4° |
| November | 08:07 | 13:03 | 18:00 | 9 h 53 min | 31.2° |
| December | 08:33 | 13:16 | 17:59 | 9 h 26 min | 27.7° |
A year of daylight in Zhangye
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 Zhangye
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
39°collects the most energy over a year: 1773 kWh per kWp.
42°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 | December kWh/kWp/day | Best ÷ worst month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0° | 1451 | 82% | 2.14 | 2.5× |
| 15° | 1649 | 93% | 3.14 | 1.8× |
| 30° | 1756 | 99% | 3.96 | 1.4× |
| 39° year-round best = latitude | 1773 | 100% | 4.35 | 1.3× |
| 42° off-grid best | 1771 | 100% | 4.46 | 1.2× |
| 45° | 1765 | 100% | 4.56 | 1.3× |
| 60° | 1677 | 95% | 4.90 | 1.5× |
| 70° | 1569 | 88% | 4.97 | 1.8× |
| 90° | 1251 | 71% | 4.74 | 2.9× |
A fixed array in Zhangye produces the most over a year at 39°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 42° it makes 4.46 kWh per kWp a day, 3% more than at 39°, and costs 0% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Zhangye at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 39° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 39° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January snow | 2.74 | 5.36 | 5.02 | 4.48 | -9.7 °C |
| February snow | 3.74 | 5.82 | 5.38 | 5.12 | -6.1 °C |
| March snow | 4.88 | 5.55 | 5.02 | 5.44 | -0.3 °C |
| April | 5.91 | 4.68 | 4.12 | 5.33 | 6.3 °C |
| May | 6.48 | 4.04 | 3.48 | 5.07 | 11.6 °C |
| June | 6.46 | 3.62 | 3.04 | 4.68 | 16.7 °C |
| July | 6.20 | 3.60 | 3.00 | 4.55 | 19.1 °C |
| August | 5.62 | 3.98 | 3.35 | 4.59 | 17.6 °C |
| September | 4.84 | 4.58 | 3.95 | 4.71 | 12.2 °C |
| October | 4.14 | 5.50 | 4.87 | 5.09 | 5.3 °C |
| November snow | 3.11 | 5.99 | 5.45 | 4.91 | -2.1 °C |
| December snow | 2.51 | 5.34 | 4.97 | 4.35 | -8.3 °C |
| Year | 4.72 avg | 4.83 avg | 1569 kWh | 1773 kWh |
Sizing example. To run a 1 kWh-per-day load through July on LiFePO4 batteries (charge controller, battery and inverter losses included) you need about 390 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 270 Wp at 39°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Zhangye
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.
4.8 mrow pitch at 70°
4.3 mrow pitch at 39°
How Zhangye compares in China
Against the other 2,094 places in China with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
123rdof 2,095 places in China for sunshine, shared: 4.72 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+41%solar energy a year compared with the average place in China: 1,773 against 1,262 kWh per kWp.
+43 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Shanghai: 14 h 54 min against 14 h 11 min.
39°best year-round tilt here; across China it runs from 14° in Haikou to 52° in Xilinji.
Of the 2,095 places in China, Nyêmo gets the most sun (5.75 peak sun hours a day) and Baima and 11 other places the least (2.91); Zhangye ranks joint 123rd. In its darkest month, July, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 3.00 kWh a day here, against 2.06 kWh on average in China. The shortest day lasts 9 h 26 min, −41 min compared with Shanghai.
Solar forecast for Zhangye, 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 Zhangye
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Places near Zhangye
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A free, live card for Zhangye: 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.