Britain's renewable energy industry won global energy contracts worth several billions of pounds in 2016, as UK companies worked hard to take a leading position in the burgeoning international market for marine and wind energy.

The latest figures have been produced by Renewable UK, who sampled 36 wind and marine energy firms based in the UK from its industry membership base of c. 400 green energy businesses.

The trade body has estimated that total global exports in the sector last year could reach as much as £2 billion. It discovered too that exports in renewable energy - spanning both services and products - went to 43 countries.

Renewable UK explained that the majority of bigger players in the market tended not to comment on the individual value of secured contracts, hinting that that the real value returning to the British economy from renewables could be even greater.

The Global Energy Outlook, a highly influential report produced by BP, has said that it expects to see renewables as the energy source experiencing the fastest growth over the next two decades, averaging a 7pc expansion. Supply could also quadruple by 2035.

However, domestic renewable businesses are still facing an uncertain future as a result of Brexit, with the government preparing to step away from its earlier EU commitments on climate change.

Renewable UK wants to see the government committing to renewables as part of its much-vaunted industrial strategy, not simply for the climate benefits but for the highly lucrative opportunities for exporting businesses.

This, the body says, would allow the renewable energy industry in the UK to reap the full rewards of its hard work to date and allow it to further capitalise on growing opportunities in order to retain competitive advantage as a green energy leader.