The UK has jumped to third place in the world ranking for utility-scale solar in the first quarter of 2015.

New statistics reveal almost 1.5GW of installations were completed between January and the end of March this year.

It comes as the government closed the Renewables Obligation (RO) incentive scheme for ground-mounted solar projects that were 5MW or larger.

The nation was beaten by the US and China and followed by Germany, India and Spain, according to Wiki-Solar, which conducted the research.

The UK now has 408 utility-scale projects, with a total capacity of more than 3.6GW.

Chief Executive Nick Boyle said: “The UK has an extremely competitive ground-mount solar market and we are delighted to be amongst those at the forefront – we installed more than 300MW in March alone. I still believe there is huge untapped potential.”