A study by the agency found that 63 per cent of consumers would support a solar farm being located in their area, compared with just 14 per cent who would back a coal power station.
Windfarms were also shown to be popular, with 59 per cent of respondents happy to have them in their local area, while nuclear and gas power stations scored just slightly above coal at 18 and 19 per cent respectively.
The research follows recent figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, which found that 78 per cent of the public support the use of renewables.
Opinium’s report also found that British Gas largely outperforms other suppliers in terms of brand prominence.
Based on average point score of 100, British Gas scored 305 points – 123 points more than the second best performer Eon, which scored 182. Of the remaining big six suppliers, EDF scored 179, followed by Scottish Power (161), Npower (153) and SSE (109).
The research is based on a collection of studies from samples of around 2000 people, conducted in 2015.