This bakery in Normandy is the first solar-powered bakery in Europe. A project for the future environmentally and economically!
Who would have thought we could do that Bake bread in your garden thanks to the sun…in Normandy? Arnaud Cretou, who lives in Montville, near Rouen, in Normandy, a region more famous for its green hills of year-round sunshine, has shown that this idea is far from a far-fetched idea. In his bakery called Niloko – neo for new and loco For its association with local produce, but also a nod to the project’s slightly crazy idea – the craft engineer cooks 100 kilos of bread per day Thanks to the oven, which is powered exclusively by solar energy.
A low-tech oven that hits the mark
After developing the first prototype of a solar oven with his fellow engineers, Arnault was encouraged by his success with Solar bakers in Kenya Uganda, and Tanzania. So he set off in turn: he, too, would make his bread without electricity in Normandy! To operate, the oven is placed facing 69 mirrors spread over an area of approximately 11 square meters. They reflect the sun’s rays and are thus concentrated in one point: the baking oven. This can be up to 250 degrees Celsius. in just 1 hour. Thanks to this low-tech system, the baker achieves a large yield of up to 40 kg of bread per hour. Even in winter, when the sun is shyest, Nioloko Bakery manages to find its account. Once the oven is hot, thermal inertia allows cooking to continue, and if the sun isn’t really there, Arnaud exceptionally uses a wood-burning oven, but never an electric one.
The baker leaves nothing to chance: it is Natural leavened bread kneaded by hand with Organic and local delivery is by electric bike! Options in line with current environmental issues, which make it possible to offer fair prices, are not affected by the rise in energy prices. A project for which we promise a bright future!
