Denbighshire-based Henllan Bakery has installed 155 solar panels to the rooves of its bread- and cake-making facilities.

Henllan said the additions were part of a planned move to a more eco-friendly future.

The solar panels, of which 111 are on top of the bread-making facility and 44 on the roof of the cake-making facility, will produce almost 40,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year – enough to power 10 family homes.

Green-energy specialists Hafod Renewables, who installed the panels, said the system would pay for its £30,000 cost through the feed-in tariff in half a decade.

“With the on-site savings of £4,000 a year and because they were in time to take advantage of the feed-in tariff of over £1,500 annually, the system will pay for itself in five years,” said David Jones, managing director of Hafod Renewables.

“It’s also saving 32 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually and that’s equivalent to planting 100 trees a year.”

Jones added it made sense for a bakery like Henllan to use solar energy, as the mixers, machines and conveyor belts were electric and ran almost continually.

Henllan, which was established in 1908, has baked at its current site since 1975. It added the cake and biscuit facility in January this year, which it said was going well.

“We want to go greener as a company and see this as just the first phase. Over the next two years we want to look at more ways of being environmentally friendly,” said Tom Moore, production director at Henllan Bakery.

“We are investing money in renewables because, as we are expanding the business, the energy bills are going up.

“It makes good business sense when you have an operation that’s running 24/7.”