A Low Cost, Open-source IoT based 2-axis Active Solar Tracker for Smart Communities

The need for green and sustainable energy source is greater than ever and solar cell is undoubtedly one energy source that gains more popularity as the technology become less expensive and more accessible by anyone. In this paper, we are presenting an active 2-axis solar tracker system combine with the Internet of Things (IoT) technology for an affordable, easy to construct, small foot-print, low maintenance, intelligent and the system able to generate as much as 30% more power than traditional static installation commonly available today. The active 2-axis solar tracker system design is to be simple to construct, require little and cost effective so every house hold in a community can effort and able to take advantage of an open-source technology available. The system consists of sensors, micro controller the ESP8266, cloud server, Node-RED software, grid-tie inverter, and solar panels. There are no specialize components in the system, so every component is locally available, low cost and easy to replace. The result of the system is presented and it reveal that the system performed as expected as it able to provide energy up to 30% more than static installation while require extremely small foot print 1 m
²
for 1.2kw system and 4 m
²
for a 6kw system, and little maintenance. The tracker is able to withstand high wind thanks to Node-Red smart algorithm and ESP8266 IoT enable microcontroller working hand in hand to quickly move the solar panel to flat position in the event of high wind conditions. Since this is an open-source research project, the system has potential to be applied to many other communities around the country and perhaps around the world. As the system will not only save the house's owner money, but also reduce the electricity grid's load. Most importantly, this project is enabling people in community to do his or her part as responsible citizens in helping to promote awareness for alternative green and sustainable energy in their community.