NEW DELHI: India has the potential to increase its share of non-fossil fuel (zero carbon) sources of energy in the country’s total electricity supply mix from 35% in 2018 to 45% by 2030 despite doubling of its consumption in over next 10 years, said the environment and energy think-tank TERI in its technical reports on overall renewable energy scenario.The projection is, in fact, 5% more than what India had pledged as part of its climate action plans under the Paris Agreement in 2015 - a scenario which may see no new coal-fired power plant will be built in India beyond 2025-27.India under its Paris pledges committed to increase its share of non-fossil fuel (solar, wind, hydro, biomass and nuclear) in the total installed capacity of electricity generation from 30% in 2015 to about 40% by 2030.The reports, released on sidelines of the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) here on Wednesday, also project that the cost of wind and solar will be Rs 2.3 - 2.6 per KWh and Rs 1.9 - 2.3 per KWh respectively by 2030 while the cost of storage will fall by 70%.“By contrast, we project the tariffs of new coal-fired electricity to rise due to above-inflation increase in coal transport costs and increase in coal plant capital costs to improve efficiencies and reduce local pollution,” said Ajay Mathur, director general of TERI.The reports, accordingly, project that the electricity from new non-pithead coal could be as expensive at Rs 6.98 per KWh while cheaper pithead coal would be Rs 4.85 per KWh by 2030 - more than double the cost of solar.Asked when would India see its last coal-fired power plants in such a scenario, Mathur said, “If I look at it very very realistically, the last coal power plant in India has already been financed. We will not see any more financing. Last new power plant will be built around 2025-27 and beyond that, all power plants will be renewables plus managed flexibility system (to balance the variability of solar and wind).“We’ll see coal generation rise till about 2026-27. It’ll then become constant when the renewables keep on increasing. As coal power plants start retiring, they will be replaced by the renewables.”Responding to a question on the possibility of complete phase-out of coal-fired power plants, the TERI chief said, “We expect the coal power plants will largely retire by 2050 with only a very small tail existing by 2060. So, coal will essentially not be part of India’s electricity system by 2050-60.”The required investments to such a high renewable scenario will be quite substantial. The reports project investment of about Rs 1.65 - 1.75 lakh crore per year to reach that situation. This will, however, be only slightly above the investment rate (around Rs 1.40 - 1.50 lakh crore per year) seen over the past 10 years.The projection of India’s electricity demand in the reports shows that residential and services are projected to represent 50% of electricity demand in 2030, with air conditioning alone accounting for around 10%.The reports are results of joint initiatives of TERI and other global think-tanks - the Energy Transitions Commission and the Climate Policy Initiative.