Almost a third of the United Kingdom’s electricity came from renewable sources between July and September, as wind turbines and solar panels helped achieve a quarterly record for green energy.

Major new offshore wind farms connecting to the grid pushed renewable energy to 33.1 per cent of electricity generation across the quarter, up from 30 per cent the year before.

Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reports the speed at which green energy projects are being installed has resulted in records tumbling this year.

Wind power broke records during the “beast from the east”, which was eclipsed during Storm Diana last month, and again last week when wind generation hit 15 gigawatts (GW).

The trend is expected to continue next year as more wind farms around the coast near completion.

Initial analysis of some recently built offshore projects also shows they are generating more power than expected.

Meanwhile, gas and coal slumped to a new low of just over 41.1 per cent, according to official statistics just published.

Environmental groups said the progress showed the government should rethink its backing for nuclear and fracking, and give its full support to renewable energy.

“Solar and wind technologies are powering ahead, beating new records for low costs and high production despite unhelpful government interventions,” Greenpeace UK’s policy director, Dr Doug Par, said.

Low carbon sources of power, which include the country’s eight nuclear power stations, account for 56 per cent of the UK’s electricity supply.

The Guardian reports the 50 per cent mark was hit only two years ago.

Figures also show that householders appear to be rushing to install solar panels before incentives end next year.

More than 4700 solar schemes were fitted in November, the highest in more than two years.

The vast majority were of the size households would install.

“This could be due to the upcoming closure of the feed-in tariff scheme in March 2019,” the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said.

It also announced that the scheme’s closure would also mean households installing solar in future having to give away unused clean power for free.