With last month clocking in as Britain’s sunniest month since July 2013, both ground-mounted and roof-mounted solar arrays are pumping out the kilowatts, according to the National Farmers Union.

The Union's chief adviser for renewable energy and climate change, Dr Jonathan Scurlock, says the beautiful weather has seen huge upturns in the amount of electricity being generated by solar panels, peaking last Saturday.

He said: "At times, solar power has been generating more than a quarter of UK electricity output (nearly 28 per cent at lunchtime on 30 June).

"For 11 out of the past 12 days in a row, electricity from the sun has peaked at more than eight gigawatts (GW) – about twice the maximum rating of the giant Drax power station in Yorkshire.

"On average over this period, solar has been generating around seven to eight per cent of total UK electricity, breaking weekly and monthly output records and pushing wind power into second place, at about six to seven per cent."

The NFU have provided links to useful websites tracking renewable electricity production, including Electric Insights, MyGridGB, National Grid Live Status and Sheffield Solar - PV_Live.

Dr Scurlock added: "The NFU estimates that farmers own or host more than two-thirds of Britain's solar power installations – about 9GW out of 13GW of capacity.

"With costs still falling, an increasing number of NFU members are finding a good business case for on-site solar PV generation, with or without government support.

"And as the heatwave looks set to continue until at least mid-July, we can look forward to even more stretching clean power statistics this summer. Scorchio!"

Meanwhile, the NFU has issued a number of advice warnings for staying safe during the current heatwave.

Tips included are how to enlist on the fodder bank because of dry weather, avoiding the spread of wild fires and NHS advice on sunburn.

They can be found at https://www.nfuonline.com/news/latest-news/