Work on the first home to be fitted with solar roof-slates under a Government initiative to encourage the use of solar power in the UK was completed this week. To mark the occasion, Brian Wilson, the Minister for Energy, visited the offices of Solar Century, the solar electric solutions company responsible for installing the roof. The project was the first to be completed as part of a £20m Government scheme designed to increase the number of domestic solar power - or photovoltaic - installations in the UK tenfold by 2005.

Mr Wilson said: "It is very encouraging that the first PV slates under this scheme have been installed on ordinary homes. Thousands of homes and offices across the UK are now set to be powered by solar power under the £20m programme announced in March. We are offering grants to both the public and private sectors to install systems on new or existing buildings".

The funding for the solar roofs was made available through the DTI's Major Photovoltaics Demonstration Programme (PV MDP). Last month, the first nine applications for small-scale projects were agreed, including the first home in Dover, Kent. The first call for proposals for medium and large-scale projects is currently open with a closing date of the end of this month.

Solar Century are one of 15 installation companies to be accredited to fit solar roofs under the PV MDP. This installer accreditation scheme together with an approved product list is intended to ensure that only good quality installations are subsidised under the programme. Other solar initiatives recently announced by Brian Wilson include the domestic and large-Scale Field Trials:

• £4m for sun-powered social and private housing developments across the UK, representing 380 houses, flats and bungalows.
• £4m for the installation of solar systems on large-scale public buildings.

PV systems generate electricity directly from light and may be incorporated into building products for use as roofing or cladding. It is a form of renewable energy perhaps uniquely suited to the urban environment requiring no additional land area. The establishment of a major demonstration programme was the key recommendation of a Government-Industry Group set up by the then Energy Minister, Mrs Liddell to look at the prospects for photovoltaics in the UK.