Plans are underway to roll out a huge new £20m bread factory in Kent powered by its own solar farm.

Margate company Specialty Breads wants to “evolve the bread baking business” by moving into a facility at Manston Business Park by the end of this year.

It will close two current bakeries at Westwood Industrial Estate and Enterprise Road, and combine them into the new 1,800 sq ft project.

Doing so will see the firm quadruple the number of loaves it can produce, and see it expand into the retail market.

A planning application has now been submitted to build a solar farm nearby to power the business, aiming to make it the UK’s most sustainable bakery.

Documents submitted with the bid state: “The business is growing successfully, with the bakery doubling in size over the past seven years.

“The existing factories are close to capacity, and there are limited options on either site to expand as required.

“Accordingly, Speciality Breads is looking to create a new headquarters, or ‘Bread Campus’ within Thanet, dedicated to evolving the bread baking business.

“The consolidation of two bakeries into one has clear business and sustainability benefits.

“Speciality Breads is seeking a site that will help facilitate a new campus that will help the business grow to become the most sustainable bakery in the UK.

“The solar farm will serve the new bakery and headquarters, allowing Speciality Breads to meet its sustainability commitments on becoming net-zero by 2030.”

The bakery was a provider for the London 2012 Olympic Village, and creates “hand-crafted bread of the highest quality”.

If approved, the solar farm in Manston Road will be almost four football pitches in size on former farmland and will have an output of 2.678 Megawatts.

A new native hedgerow and wildflower margins will be planted to increase biodiversity.

It is predicted to take five months to build, and it will stay in place for 40 years.

Royal Kaak is supplying the UK’s first electric, gas hybrid stone bake oven to the new site.

Managing director Simon Cannell has described the new facility as “the bakery of the future”, adding: “The bespoke-built Royal Kaak production line enables us to retain our incredible flexibility and breadth of range, whilst providing a huge step change in both quality and efficiency.

“By making this move, we are future-proofing the business for the next 20 years and developing long-term partnerships with our key customers.”

Planning documents add: “The proposed development would supply clean, renewable electricity to serve the new bakery, designed with sustainability and energy saving at its core.

“This should be given significant weight within the decision-making process.”

A determination will be made by Thanet District Council in due course.