The Oxford Photovoltaic House : Lessons for the future UK PV industry

The Oxford Photovoltaic House was built to help establish photovoltaics (PV) as a viable technology in the UK through the medium of a high profile demonstration project. To achieve this objective a 4kW peak PV array was built on a south facing roof of a new super-insulated low energy house in Oxford completed in April 1995. The demonstration project has provided an opportunity to test the barriers that exist to the wider use of the technology in the UK, to assess the performance of the roof in the UK weather and to evaluate the potential contribution of domestic photovoltaics to the energy supply in the UK. The findings to date of this project are described.