AN ACADEMIC who was the first to install a solar panel on an Oxfordshire rooftop said the city was “at the heart of the solar revolution”.

Professor Sue Roaf, 62, ignored the sceptics in 1995 to install the first integrated solar roof at her home in Blanford Avenue, North Oxford. She was told at the time it would not work due to the weather in this country.

It cost £28,000 to put together, and despite saving just a fraction of the cost over the past 20 years, the Heriot-Watt academic believes solar can end fuel poverty in Oxford and across the country.

Her solar roof produces 3,200kWh a year, works at 95 per cent capacity and saved £450 a year in energy bills.

The professor of agricultural and engineering studies said: “A lot of people told me it would never work here, but look at Britain now.

“Nearly a million solar roofs out of 25 million homes, an annual doubling of installed solar capacity.

“Even the politicians now recognise that the best way to take people out of fuel poverty is to put the means of generating energy on their own roofs.”

She added: “I am very proud that Oxford has been at the heart of the solar revolution over the past 20 years.

“I think the solar revolution started when people saw others putting them on their own houses and found out about the benefits. My friend saw mine and then put some on her home in Kidlington and then someone across the road decided to do it.

“Another major factor is that Oxford is a solar city.

“In 2006 we had a major conference; the city council became on board and promoted solar power.”

Ms Roaf added another major reason was the drop in solar panel prices. She added: “There are a lot more people investing in it because there is a payback after 10 years.”

Oxford City Council has pledged to fit most of its housing stock with solar panels under its Energy Programme over four years.