March 11, 2018
The meeting was attended by 23 heads of states and 10 ministerial delegations that reaffirmed their commitment to offer project funding and programmes under the aegis of the ISA
The ISA aims to deploy more than 1,000 GW of solar generation capacity and mobilise low-cost investment of over US$1 trillion into solar energy from public and private resources by 2030
India is pushing to deploy national renewable energy capacity of 175 GW by 2022, including 100 GW of solar power; renewable capacity has grown by 62 per cent to 63 GW over the past two years
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is holding the 2nd Global RE-Invest meet in April that will help deliberate upon strategies for development and deployment of renewable projects
The International Solar Alliance (ISA) held its first formal summit on March 11th, thereby creating a broad plurilateral platform of more than 120 partner nations to promote development of solar energy projects worldwide. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron co-hosted the ISA founding conference in New Delhi. The meeting was attended by 23 heads of states and 10 ministerial delegations. The leaders underlined their commitment to ISA’s projects and programmes and to mobilize affordable financing for solar energy deployment. The ISA aims to mobilise investment of over US$1 trillion from public and private sources that will help it install more than 1,000 GW of solar generation capacity worldwide, by 2030.
The ISA, an Indian initiative, was conceptualised at the India Africa Summit in New Delhi in October 2015 and formally announced at the UN Climate Change Conference, or COP 21, held in Paris in November 2015. The Paris Declaration established ISA as an alliance dedicated to the promotion of solar energy among its solar-rich member countries lying fully or partially between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. The platform aims to aggregate global demand, thereby reducing prices of solar products such as panels and cells through bulk purchase, facilitating the deployment of existing solar technologies at scale, and promoting collaborative solar R&D and capacity building.
The ISA formally became a de-jure treaty based International Intergovernmental Organization when its framework entered into force on December 6th, 2017. A treaty-based organisation, structured and guided by legal instruments, it addresses participating member states that have accepted the laws. The ISA is based out of Gurugram, on the outskirts of Delhi. Out of the 121 partner nations, 61 have joined the alliance and 32 have ratified the Framework Agreement.
India has offered to meet the ISA Secretariat’s expenses for the first five years. In addition, the country’s Ministry of External Affairs has set aside US$2 billion for solar projects in Africa out of the Government’s US$10 billion concessional line of credit for the continent. Parallelly, the French Government has committed US$1.2 billion in support for solar-related projects in the ISA member countries. The alliance is crucial as solar energy holds an easy solution for provision of power supply in developing countries which are poor in electricity generation and infrastructure. The Indian Government, meanwhile, is pushing ahead to deploy national renewable energy capacity of 175 GW by 2022, including 100 GW of solar power. In doing so, it will need US$83 billion over financial year 2018-22. India is currently ahead of schedule in implementing renewable capacity that had grown by 62 per cent to 63 GW over the past two years.
The ISA will put India in a global leadership role in climate and renewable energy issues. It will also provide India with a platform to showcase its solar programmes. Meanwhile, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank have tied up with the ISA. The organisation has launched three programmes – Scaling Solar Applications for Agriculture Use, Affordable Finance at Scale, and Scaling Solar Mini–grids – so far. These programmes will help in achieving the overall goal of increasing solar energy deployment in the ISA member countries for achieving universal energy access and speeding up economic development. In addition to the existing three programmes, ISA has initiated plans to launch two more programmes – Scaling Solar Rooftops and Scaling Solar E-mobility and Storage.
Furthermore, ISA has been developing a Common Risk Mitigating Mechanism (CRMM) for de-risking and reducing the financial cost of solar projects in the ISA member countries. The instrument will help diversify and pool risks on solar investments, while unlocking significant investments. An international expert group has been working on the blueprint of the mechanism and it will be rolled out by December 2018. Another major initiative is establishment of Digital Infopedia which will serve as a platform to enable policy makers, government and corporate leaders from ISA countries to interact, connect, communicate and collaborate with one another. The platform was operationalized in May 2017. Digital Infopedia will also offer audio-visual interactions on investment and development opportunities.
Meanwhile, India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is organising the 2nd Global RE-Invest INDIA-ISA Partnership Renewable Energy Investors Meet & Expo over April 19-21. The event will help deliberate upon strategies for development and deployment of renewables. It will showcase India’s renewable energy potential and integrate resources from established renewable sector players, while reaching out to new segments of investors and entrepreneurs such as start-ups and venture capitalists interested in clean energy. This year’s event is expected to be attended by over 5,000 domestic and international delegates and delegations from more than 100 countries. The exhibition will feature manufacturers, project developers, investors and energy stakeholders showcasing their capabilities, technologies and investment opportunities alongside G2G, G2B & B2B interactions.