A system controller for position controlling a photovoltaic (PV) panel in a PV system including a power sensor sensing output power (P), and a motor for positioning the PV panel. The system controller includes a computing device having memory that provides motor control signal and implements an iterative adaptive control (IAC) algorithm stored in the memory for adjusting an angle of the PV panel. The IAC algorithm includes an iterative relation that relates P at current time k (P(k)), its elevation angle at k (?s(k)), P after a next step (P(k+1)) and its elevation angle at k+1(?s(k+1)). The IAV algorithm generates a perturbed power value P(k+1) to provide a power perturbation to P(k), and calculates a position angle ?s(k+1) of the PV panel using the perturbed power value. The motor control signals from the computing device cause the motor to oposition the PV panel to achieve ?s(k+1)
