India has formally inaugurated the International Solar Alliance (ISA) with 62 countries on board in an attempt to achieve their solar energy goals. While inaugurating the Delhi Solar Agenda, PM Narendra Modi, who had spearheaded the alliance in 2015, said the aim was to promote the use of solar energy, availability and development of technology, economic resources, cost reduction, and development of storage technology, besides mass manufacturing and innovative solutions.
What is International Solar Alliance?
It is the first global coalition that would bring all sun-rich countries on one platform to build their solar energy capabilities in an attempt to provide clean and cheap power.
The platform has 121 member countries, comprising tropical nations, as the region gets a surplus of bright sunlight for most part of the year.
The idea is to lower costs if larger markets and bigger volumes are involved. This would spur demand and gradually reduce the dependence on fossil fuels.
The alliance was formed following the Paris Declaration at the UN Climate Change Conference.
Goals of ISA
The alliance wants to achieve a target of 1 TW of solar energy by 2030
India has set a target of 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022, which includes 100 GW of solar.
The basic focus area is to promote solar technologies, new business models and investment in the solar sector
It also aims to formulate projects and programmes to promote solar applications, develop innovative financial
mechanisms to reduce cost of capital build, a common knowledge e-Portal to facilitate capacity building for promotion and absorption of solar technologies and R&D among member countries.
Funding
To achieve the target of 1 TW of solar energy by 2030, a sum of $1 trillion is required
India has committed to provide assistance of $1.4 billion, which would cover 27 projects in 15 countries
France has committed to give an additional $864 million in loans and support by 2022 to emerging economies for solar energy projects
The European Investment Bank has given $1.23 billion to ISA
India's role
India took the initiative to form this alliance and is expected to play the leading role.
The Indian government has committed to provide $27 million for building infrastructure and recurring expenditure over a 5-year duration from 2016-17 to 2020-21.
India will also provide 500 training slots for member-countries and start a solar tech mission to lead R&D.
To help fellow member-countries in Africa, India has decided to use about $2 billion of the $10 billion line of credit for renewable energy projects.
Source: ISA, Reuters
Courtesy : www.businesstoday.com