New figures have revealed that Britain enjoyed its greenest year to date last year, with new records set in terms of sustainable energy generation from renewable sources. Renewable energy sources generated over three times the volume of coal-generated electricity for the first time.

In fact, a greater amount of electricity was generated from wind power sources than fossil fuels on over 75pc of the year's days. For half of the days in the calendar last year, solar power electricity generation also outstripped that of fossil fuels.

In total, the UK broke an impressive 13 renewable power records last year. In March, a new generation output record was achieved at 19.2GW, and in the following month the country had its first full 24-hour period where no power from coal sources was needed - the first time on record in over 150 years.

By June another milestone was achieved, and solar, wind and nuclear energy were producing more energy than coal and gas together - again for the first time. By December, the most wind energy was recorded in one day at 281 GW.

The figures were applauded by green campaigners, including WWF. A spokesman said that government support had played a huge part in enabling green energy technologies to grow such as offshore wind and solar and to bring more renewable capacity online.

At the same time, support had allowed developers to forge ahead with new projects, and rising demand from consumers had encouraged supply from green sources to follow suit. The records were achieved as subsidies for offshore wind farms and solar in particular hit all-time lows.

The government has since come under fire for its early cessation of subsidy schemes for renewable energy developments and failure to issue a clear green energy strategy.