Adaptive power consumption improves the reliability of solar-powered devices for internet of things

•Adaptive power management scheme results in more reliable PV-powered IoT devices.•The scheme can be based on either the available energy storage or solar irradiance.•It ensures persistence of data transmission despite unpredictability of sunlight.•It reduces the optimum cost by >10% and battery volume by 30%, for <3% less data.•The scheme is suitable for IoT applications with flexible data transmission rate.