Ski jump bus station

It could easily be mistaken for a ski jump - or even the type of sculpture that might make it on to an empty plinth in Trafalgar Square.

But this 130ft structure is no work of art. It is the first stage of a solar power system that will give Vauxhall the most hi-tech bus station in the world.

Work has begun this week on the £25million station where CCTV, lighting, dot matrices and public telephones will all be powered by sunlight.

Designers, bearing in mind the unreliable English sunshine, have arranged for 168 of the most technologically advanced solar panels available to line the cantilevered arms that will extend from the bus station's roof. It is the first time such panels have been used in Britain. The project has been co-ordinated by Transport for London, which is looking for ways to exploit renewable energy. The station was designed by architects Arup Associates, who in turn commissioned power specialists solarcentury to provide the panels.

"Here was an opportunity to demonstrate the efficiencies of the solar power revolution," said solarcentury's David Ley.

"It was a high-profile project, which would be seen by tens of thousands of people every day, and which needed to be a symbol of regeneration." The project, planned for two years and due for completion in June, is part of a redevelopment of the area which will see a pedestrianised precinct linking the rail, Tube and bus stations.

It fits in with environmental initiatives supported by Mayor Ken Livingstone, and the Vauxhall building may be just the first of many large solarequipped buildings in the capital. Earlier this year, Mr Livingstone revealed he had installed £20,000 solar panels on the roof of his Victorian terraced home in Cricklewood.

He also announced a target for half of the 18,000 new homes built in the capital every year to incorporate solar power. Merton council was the first local authority in the country to require all new large business developments to have at least a portion of their power supply provided by solar panels.

The Greater London Authority, together with Croydon, Ealing, Waltham Forest, Bromley, Barking and Dagenham and Westminster councils have been tipped to follow suit soon.

The Vauxhall panels are made of a combination of materials which will absorb as many ultraviolet rays as possible from the limited sunlight in London and will produce 30 per cent of all the electricity needed by the building.

They will save enough to power eight three-bedroom houses for a year.