The 111kW system, which was fitted by Leeds Solar, will provide 75% of the factory’s future electricity demand. The panels will save the firm in the region of £20,000 per year in electricity bills when coupled with payments from the government’s Feed-in Tariff scheme.

Watermill Press managing director Dale Deacon said: “We have invested £90,000 in the solar system which will be paid back to us in just over four-and-a-half years. For any business with a large roof, it makes complete commercial and environmental sense.

“Our production floor has a large number of the world’s most sophisticated label converting machines that run for 12 hours per day, using a great deal of electricity.

“This installation protects the business from future price volatility in the energy markets and at the same time will reduce the carbon footprint of the business by over 50 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

“It forms an integral part of our aim to make the operation of our Bradford factory entirely carbon-neutral by the end of 2016."

Watermill Press is a certified living wage employer with 26 members of staff and a turnover of £7.5m. It manufactures product identification labels for clients in the food and soft drinks industries including Marks & Spencer, Britvic, Princes Food and the Robert McBride Group.

These clients use the firm’s labels to create high-quality barcodes for case and pallet identification.

The business recently invested £1m in three AB Graphic Omega label converting machines to support its continued growth. It also operates seven other Omega label presses and six desktop thermal label printers.