WASHINGTON (AP) — A promise to help power the first family's residence with the sun is finally seeing the light of day.

Solar panels have begun to be installed on the White House's roof, the first time solar power will be used for a president's living quarters. The work makes good on a nearly three-year-old promise by the Obama administration to have panels on the White House by the spring of 2011.

President Jimmy Carter and President George W. Bush both employed solar power, but never for the residence itself. Carter's panels were taken down by President Ronald Reagan.

A White House official would not disclose the share of the residence's power that solar would provide, citing security concerns. The official would say only that the panels were American-made.