Waitrose and Sainsbury’s are now selling solarpowered cheese, after the Lincolnshire Poacher Cheese dairy farm started using sun power.

Energy company Freewatt has installed a 50KW system that will run milking machines for 230 cows, the equipment that makes the cheese and the refrigeration units that mature it. The panels will generate about 22 tonnes of CO2 per annum – enough to power 14 homes for a year.

The panels will work in tandem with a wind turbine at the farm.

“Even though the weather has been dull since the panels went up, the electricity they are generating is already outperforming our expectations,” said LPC farmer Tim Jones.