In Uganda, where only 20 percent of residents have electricity due to cost and access to the grid, solar power is a viable solution. Colgate physics and astronomy professor Beth Parks observed this — and the potential obstacles — when she began her yearlong Fulbright fellowship at Mbarara University of Science and Technology in 2015.
“The trick is that you can’t just bring in a solution from the United States and expect it to work here,” Parks wrote in the summer 2016 Colgate Scene. Ever since, she’s been working to develop a solar system suitable for Ugandans.
The first problem Parks identified was the inefficiency of stationary solar panels. In Uganda, solar cells are often welded onto roofs. But with a solar tracking system that pivots to follow the sun, the energy collected increases — 32 percent, she’s found.
“That allows people to buy a solar cell that is thirty-two percent smaller and still get the same amount of energy,” Parks explains. “So there’s less of a start-up cost.” Cost is a top factor because “of the level of preciousness of money” in Uganda, she notes.
Collaborating with a local welder, Parks’s master’s student at Mbarara University designed an inexpensive tracking solar cell mounting system. It works through simple gravity: the solar system is mounted on a pivot with a bucket of water on one side and a bag of rocks on the other. The bucket has a controlled leak, so as the water drips out of a valve, the balance shifts and the panel slowly tilts. This system is relatively small, so people can set it up in the morning and take it down at night (to prevent theft).
To find a way to monitor the units’ data, Parks enlisted the help of physics major Scott Adler ’19. “There are data loggers already available, but a lot of them were expensive and not doing exactly what we wanted them to do,” he explains. So, using electronic parts and an Arduino-based circuit, he built a cost-effective monitoring device that stores data and records how much energy the solar cell generates. Adler also created waterproof packaging for the monitor.
This summer, Parks will travel to Uganda to start testing the system at households and small businesses. She says, “If the results are promising, we’ll be looking to partner with a small business or an NGO to offer the technology to households in the developing world.”
Scott Adler ’19 will expand his research on solar energy during a Fulbright fellowship in Norway.