The ISA (International Solar Alliance) is a treaty-based coalition of 121 solar resource-rich countries, which are located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, created to address their special energy needs and to provide a platform to collaborate on addressing the identified gaps through a common, agreed approach.
March 11, 2018 saw the inaugural ISA summit hosted in New Delhi, where India along with 23 other nations took a major step towards increased efforts in adopting Solar energy as the primary renewable energy source in the years to come. The effort is aimed towards providing affordable, secure and clean energy in power deficit countries, and to battle the impending climate change that is going to negatively affect a significant number of nations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target of achieving 100 GW (gigawatt) of solar power by 2022, out of the total 175 GW the country plans to produce from renewable sources. India has already achieved 20 GW of installed Solar Power 4 years ahead of the deadline. As per the Delhi Solar Agenda that was released after the summit was over, the ISA will facilitate “affordable finance, access to appropriate, clean and environment-friendly technology and undertake capacity building, including forging mutually beneficial partnerships with reputable international institutions and reputable financial institutions for the benefit of developing countries.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also added “First and foremost, we have to ensure that better and affordable solar technology is available to all and accessible to everyone. We need to increase the proportion of solar power in our energy mix,”.
President Emmanuel Macron, who is visiting India for the Summit, highlighted that to generate 1 TW (terawatt) of solar power by 2030, as envisaged under the ISA, a funding corpus of $1 trillion will be required. Macron also stated that the French Development Agency will allocate €700 million in additional spending to its commitment to solar energy by 2022, taking the total commitment to €1 billion.
In addition to India and France’s Solar efforts, the head of the states from 23 nations hailed their efforts towards providing them a common platform to work towards achieving the ambitious targets for clean energy. Leaders from Africa and the Pacific region hope to produce solar rooftop panels at rates cheaper than those Made in China.
The President of Seychelles Danny Antoine said the nation has planned to have 100 percent renewable energy by 2050 despite the fact that it is an island nation, while President of Niger Issoufou Mahamadou said that Niger is one of the first countries to sign the ISA agreement because no development is possible without access to electricity.
All in all, the inaugural ISA summit proved to be a success and a step in the right direction towards creating awareness and nation-wide adoption of Solar Energy in the near future.
Source: Economic Times
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