New Delhi: Wind and solar will be the cheapest forms of power generation in every G20 country by the year 2030 at the latest, said a study released by Greenpeace Germany on Friday.

The study, released on the day the G20 summit started in Hamburg (Germany), also found that in about half of the G20 countries, renewable energy has already been either cheaper or equal in price to electricity generated from coal or nuclear power plants since 2015.

The study by the Finnish Lappeenranta University of Technology, commissioned by Greenpeace, calculated the electricity generation costs in all G20 countries for the years 2015 and 2030. Adoption of renewable power is an important component to tackle climate change.

The study found that wind farms already generated the cheapest form of electricity in 2015 in large parts of Europe, South America, the US, China and Australia.

The analysis emphasized that due to rapid technical progress and falling prices, in 2030 solar energy will be cheaper than wind power in many G20 countries.

It also stressed that United Nations (UN) figures reveal that in 2016 investments in renewables globally were double that of investments in conventional power stations.

“About 55% of the added electricity capacities were based on renewable energies last year—a record figure," it added.

India too is making massive strides towards its huge target of 175 Gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy by 2022. Solar tariff has fallen to a record low of Rs2.44 per unit and wind power tariff too dropped to a new low of Rs3.46 earlier this year, putting both technologies at the same level as or below the cost of electricity from new coal fired or nuclear power plants.

“There can be no excuses anymore. Climate protection increasingly makes economic sense across the G20 as renewable energy becomes cheaper than dirty coal and nuclear. Trump’s energy policy is simply a bad deal. The US has excellent conditions for expanding its wind and solar energy capabilities and states like California, Texas or Iowa will not miss this chance," said Greenpeace Germany energy expert Tobias Austrup.

“Any G20 country that is still investing in coal and nuclear power plants is wasting their money on technology that will not be competitive in coming years. The G20 now has a responsibility to send a clear signal that accelerating the clean energy transition is not only the right thing to do for the climate, but also for the economy," said Ashish Fernandes, Greenpeace campaigner.

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