A solar-powered bakery and roaster in Normandy? Arnaud Cretot proved it could be done! The engineer used his experience to create the TELED method to help companies adapt their business to work with intermittent energy and fulfil their energy transition.
Does baking bread or roasting beans using solar power in Normandy sound mad? Not really. Arnaud Cretot did just that with NeoLoco, a solar-powered bakery and roaster he set up in Montville, Seine-Maritime, in 2019. A first in Europe. But the trained energy engineer had to adapt both his business and his products to run his company with a solar oven and its 69 panels.
A low-tech company
In terms of roasting, Neoloco makes pulse blends for drinks and a chickpea-based coffee alternative called Éveil Résistant. “NeoLoco is an energy-efficient business, so there was no way we were going to fly coffee beans from the other side of the world to roast them. We explored local crops and recipes and proved that even food and drink can meet energy efficiency and decarbonisation targets! ” says Arnaud Cretot. AREA Normandie award in 2023 for innovation.
In terms of manufacture, what’s good about these long-life products is that they can only be made when the sun’s out. As for the bakery side of the business, NeoLoco makes sourdough bread that lasts up to a week. It’s baked in the solar oven when the sun’s out (up to 110kg) or a wood-fired oven when it isn’t. Neoloco soon became a viable business and now sells its products at dozens of shops around Rouen and online. The low-tech company has 3 employees.
NeoLoco is an artisan business and lab in the real world. We're proving that you can make a company work with a totally different business model: by only using energy when it's available. It's a model that you can apply to any industry.
Arnaud Créetot, an energy nomad
It all began for Arnaud Cretot at engineering college. He spent his year out between 2010 and 2011 on the road as part of a project called “Vagabonds de l’énergie”. He and his Polytech Nantes classmate, Robin Deloof, took part in sixty energy-related projects in twenty countries around the world. “When we came back, we were convinced that the technical solutions were there but we had to remove any cultural, social and business obstacles before any real energy transition could happen,” he says.
During his adventure, Arnaud Cretot learnt about Lytefire’s solar oven technology for sole traders in developing countries. He became the technical director and, in the meantime, tested different bread-making techniques to prove solar power could work in baking… The dawn of Neoloco.
Fast forward to today and Vagabonds de l’Energie is a Norman association raising awareness and knowledge of energy and climate issues among all kinds of audiences in the region. It also supports energy-related study abroad projects around the world.
TELED, an innovative business model
That’s not the only string to the engineer/baker’s bow. As well as training other sole traders and bakers all over France who want to use solar power in their business, he’s used his experience to create the TELED method which stands for “Tache Énergivore Lorsque L’Energie est disponible”, which translates as using energy when it’s available for energy-consuming jobs.
This new way of working is for companies who want to work with intermittent energy (solar, wind). But that’s not all. TELED is also for any business that wants to adapt to energy variability in general: power cuts, price instability etc. This kind of proactive behaviour is becoming crucial for both businesses and regions. “The issue is clear from the recent price hikes in electricity that saw dozens of companies shut down, because the rates didn’t match their business models ,” says Arnaud Cretot.
The TELED method involves listing all the jobs the business does to pin-point which are the most-consuming then plan to do those jobs when the energy is readily available or cheaper. “Initial feedback about TELED from businesses with solar power showed an easy increase in energy self-sufficiency from 20% to 40-45% just by making very simple changes. For example, you can tweak working hours or working days in production areas to spread energy use out over the course of the week,” he says. “You also need buffer stock so you don’t have to operate non-stop and you give your company more wiggle room.” A dozen companies of every size and industry have already been assessed: bakeries, carpenters, foundries etc.
Normandy, blazing a trail
TELED spent 2 years in development and is being promoted by energy suppliers, design offices and companies to form a collective. There are projects happening in the best engineering colleges (École des Mines de Paris, INSA, Centrale, Arts et Métiers etc.) all over France and a brand new partnership with IN&MA, an engineering college that’s just opened in Rouen.
Normandy is paving the way in this take on business transformation. The region has really got behind it
The collective also includes research professors who are designing programmes exploring the engineering behind it and how acceptable and viable these new working methods are for companies. “I often hear the same thing: intermittent energy can’t fuel the economy,” says Arnaud Cretot. “My answer tends to be that variable energy can’t fuel an economy designed to function with continuous energy. But you just have to teach companies and regions how to work differently to overcome these barriers. “
Thematics
