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Solar and backup power in Lusaka
Lusaka, Lusaka Province, gets 5.73 peak sun hours a day on average. The dullest month is June at 4.87 hours, 29% less than October, the sunniest at 6.83. That makes it sunnier than 13% of the 16 cities we cover in Zambia.
Sunshine in Lusaka dips mainly in June, the one month clearly below the yearly average. A system sized for that month covers the rest of the year with room to spare. Across the year, Lusaka gets about the same sunshine as the average of the cities we cover in Zambia.
What a home in Lusaka needs
Three example homes, each covering a 12-hour daily outage with a lithium battery and solar panels to recharge it. Panels are 450 W. The month-with-least-sun figure is what keeps you covered all year.
| Home | Inverter | Battery | Panels, June | Panels, yearly average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials 6 lights, 2 fans, a fridge, TV, Wi-Fi and phone charging | 1 kW | 2.6 kWh | 2 | 2 |
| Family home Essentials plus a freezer, more lights, a laptop, a desktop and a water pump | 3 kW | 7.4 kWh | 4 | 4 |
| With air conditioning The family home plus two small air conditioners for 6 hours a day | 5 kW | 14.9 kWh | 8 | 7 |
Your own appliances will differ. Put them into the calculator below, which already has Lusaka's sunshine.
Size your own system in Lusaka
Planning tips for Lusaka
- Size panels for June, not for the yearly average. A system sized on the average falls short in the dullest weeks, which is when you most need it.
- Dust, heat and shade cut output. Keep panels clean, leave air space under them, and avoid anything that shades them between mid-morning and mid-afternoon.
- Ask installers for the inverter's continuous and surge ratings, the battery's usable capacity and chemistry, and the panels' total watts. Compare those numbers with your plan rather than the package name.
Guides for planning in Lusaka
- Peak sun hours and your dullest month
- How many solar panels you need
- Lithium vs lead-acid batteries
- Questions to ask an installer
Nearby cities
- Kafue 42 km · 5.73 h
- Mazabuka 76 km · 5.84 h
- Kabwe 108 km · 5.76 h
- Choma 209 km · 5.86 h
- Luanshya 253 km · 5.77 h
- Ndola 275 km · 5.74 h
Sunshine: NASA POWER climatology, ALLSKY_SFC_SW_DWN, monthly averages for 25-year Meteorological and Solar Monthly & Annual Climatologies (January 2001 - December 2025), at -15.4067, 28.2871; retrieved 2026-11-09. Peak sun hours equal kWh of sunlight per square metre per day on flat ground; tilted panels usually collect a little more.