Renewables provided a third of all UK power in 2018.

That’s according to a new statistical report published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), which details energy statistics from across the fourth quarter of the year and provisional annual data for the whole of 2018.

It shows 111TWh of electricity was generated from renewable sources, as a result of a 9.7% increase in capacity to 44.4GW.

Increasing output from oil, bioenergy and waste, wind and solar contributed to total energy production rising 3.7% higher than in 2017, marking the fourth successive yearly increase.

Gas accounted for 39.4% of total generation whilst coal made up only 5%, a record low.

Nuclear generation also declined slightly due to reactor outages and required maintenance, at the same time as oil output rose by 9%.

Total primary energy consumption for energy use was 0.6% lower than in 2017 and 1.3% lower when adjusted to take account of weather differences between 2017 and 2018.

The report shows average annual household energy bills across all payment types in 2018 increased by £65 to £1,314 – this 5.2% increase means average electricity and gas bills were £49 and £16 higher respectively.

The plummeting price of lithium-ion batteries is opening up new opportunities for them to be used to balance a renewables-heavy generation mix.