Smart Rooftop Solar Tracker

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  Smart Rooftop Solar Tracker

Inspiration

Rooftop solar power is growing rapidly, but most panels are installed at fixed angles, leading to 10–25% efficiency loss. Inspired by India’s PM Surya Ghar Yojana and the global push for clean energy, we wanted to create a simple, affordable system to make solar power smarter.

What it does

The Smart Rooftop Solar Tracker is an IoT + AI powered system that adjusts solar panels automatically to follow the sun.

• IoT device with sensors + servo motors for real-time panel movement.
  
• Web/mobile app to track live solar energy and efficiency.
  
• AI forecasts peak sunlight hours and gives energy-saving tips.
  
• Smart alerts when shading or dirt reduces efficiency.
  

How we built it

• Hardware: Arduino/ESP32, LDR sensors, servo motors.
  
• Software: Flask (Python) backend, React.js dashboard, Firebase database.
  
• AI Module: Python (Scikit-learn) for sunlight prediction.
  
• Visualization: Recharts/Chart.js for interactive graphs.
  

Challenges we ran into

• Building an accurate but low-cost solar tracking mechanism.
  
• Creating a lightweight AI model for real-time predictions.
  
• Designing a user-friendly app to turn data into insights.
  

Accomplishments

• Built a functional IoT prototype with real-time movement.
  
• Developed a working dashboard with live solar data.
  
• Created an AI model for solar prediction.
  
• Designed a scalable solution for households and communities.
  

What’s next

• Expand to community-level solar monitoring.
  
• Integrate blockchain-based peer-to-peer energy trading.
  
• Add predictive maintenance (panel cleaning, repair alerts).
  
• Partner with housing societies and renewable startups.
  

Built With

• arduino-/-esp32-python-(flask
• firebase
• react.js
• recharts
• scikit-learn)