A Welsh business intends to become the greenest bakery in Britain after installing more than 1,000 solar panels on its premises in Wrexham.

The Village Bakery will operate on solar energy during the majority of daylight hours in the summer months as a result of the new 250-kilowatt system installed at its new Baking Academy and Innovation Centre.

The investment forms part of a wider campaign to make the business as sustainable as possible – since 2012 the company, which also has a bakery in Minera, has slashed the use of electricity by 18%.

“The solar panels are a really exciting development and are in line with The Village Bakery’s ethos of being a responsible, environmentally-friendly and sustainable business,” said Ashley Dawson, the family firm’s business and sustainability executive.

“It will mean we can operate the Wrexham production site throughout the day off our own renewable energy. Effectively, it will become a solar-powered bakery. During the night time, the energy we buy from the grid is renewable energy anyway… so during the day, we’ll be working with our own renewable energy and during the night someone else’s renewable energy.”

Over the past three years The Village Bakery has achieved a 33% reduction in waste - the equivalent of 66 tonnes of waste or 66 small cars.

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