Middle school student develops Novel Solar Panel System.

Teen Scientist's New Invention: Solar Panels That Generates More Electricity

Electricity has made our lives quite easier compared to our ancestors. It has many uses for lighting, machinery and more. To sum it up, electricity is such a big help for all of us.

But the production of electricity’s high costs to consumers is sometimes not enough for everyone. So consumers are bound to pay whatever amount they have consumed, and in turn, causes a strict tightening up of the consumer's budget. To help with the production, solar panels were used. 

And recently, a teenager made some modification to boost the solar panel system.

Georgia Hutchinson with her award from the state science fair.

Meet Georgia Hutchinson.

The 13-year-old scientist has just won a prestigious science prize by creating a program that allows solar panels to generate more electricity by following the location of the sun from dawn until dusk.

Georgia's experiment is built on a simple premise: if a solar panel is able to follow the sun at all times, then they can generate more electricity. The more electricity they generate, the faster they can pay off their purchase costs and utility bills.

A young scientist has come up with a way to make producing solar energy more efficient and less costly.

Most solar panels are only set up to point in one direction – and while there are solar panels that are equipped with trackers that allow them to follow the sun by moving along two axis', they are incredibly expensive.

So as a means of maximizing a panel’s exposure of the sun, Georgia borrowed an equation that was developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The equation uses a person’s location to locate where the sun will be in the sky at any given time. Georgia ran some experiments to compare exactly how much electricity her data-driven solar panel could generate in comparison to a fixed-point panel – and her results were impressive.

Georgia is a seventh grade student from Woodside Elementary School.

Georgia first became inspired to develop her cost-effective program when her family traveled to Corvallis, Oregon from Woodside, California so they could see the solar eclipse in 2017.

“On the way home, my uncle called to say that he had just invested in solar panels and that in 20 years, he would have free electricity,” says Georgia. “I thought 20 years was way too long.”

“I realized if mankind knew where and when an eclipse will be, we must know where the sun will be at other times,” she says. “This inspired a data-driven dual-axis solar tracker.”

Georgia with Jennifer Parker, a Woodside Elementary School science teacher.

Georgia's impressive experiment just won the $25,000 top prize in the National Broadcom MASTERS Competition, one of the most prestigious science and engineering competitions for middle schoolers in America. 

High-quality solar panels are too expensive, but thanks to Georgia's experiment people can now have more electricity without costing too much.

“The technology you use impresses no one. The experience you create with it is everything.”

- Sean Gerety