SOLAR ENERGY HARVESTING: AN ASTRONOMICAL APPROACH TO SOLAR TRACKING SYSTEM DESIGN
A solar tracking system is an electromechanical system designed to orient solar panels towards the sun to maximise energy capture. It is applied in renewable energy production to improve the efficiency of solar panels. Most solar energy systems make use of fixed solar panels, which have limitations in capturing maximum sunlight due to their inability to align with the sun�s position throughout the day. To overcome the identified limitations, this work developed a dual-axis astronomical-based solar tracking system that integrates real-time astronomical calculations using geographical data to adjust the solar panel orientation throughout the day, thereby improving solar energy production. A microcontroller-based control system, coupled with servo motors and a GPS module, was used to implement the tracking mechanism and the system was evaluated against fixed and sensor-based solar tracking configurations in terms of energy output and tracking accuracy. The results showed that the astronomical tracker achieved a 32% increase in energy output compared to fixed systems and outperformed sensor-based systems by 8% in terms of alignment precision and reliability, particularly under suboptimal weather conditions.
Authors : Momoh, M.O., Salahudeen, A.S., Dafe, C.U., Aminu, U.K., Bello, Y., Shobowale, K.O. Bulama, H.I. and Usman, N.S.
Category : Open Access Volume (Issue) : 11(2) Date Uploaded : 18th October 2025