How, what & why of ISA
The International Solar Alliance (ISA)’s foundation day conference and celebrations will be held on Sunday at the President House. India and France are the cofounders of the alliance to promote solar energy.
What is ISA?
Officially announced during UN Climate Change Conference in Paris on 30 November, 2015, the ISA is a partnership of solar resourcerich countries. Currently, there are 121 member nations, along with organisations from Africa, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Pakistan is not.
A long road
Between 2008 and 2010, Narendra Modi, then Gujarat chief minister, had approached then prime minister, Manmohan Singh, with a concept called Sun-Son. It would be a group of Asia Pacific country researching and developing solar energy. Modi had rued the fact that the Centre did not take up this idea. Sector experts said ISA is inspired by Sun-Son.
Why ISA?
As a part of its climate change commitments, India has said that by 2020, 40 per cent of its energy will come from renewable sources. According to the ISA’s working draft, its aim is to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.”
The ISA also aims to substantially increase the share of renewable energy globally by 2030. “Enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, and advanced and cleaner fossilfuel technology, and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology,” said the ISA framework.
India’s role
India will contribute $27 million to the ISA to create a corpus, build infrastructure and for recurring expenditure over five years (FY17 to FY21). The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency have contributed $1 million each to create the ISA corpus. India’s Ministry of External Affairs, through its Development Partnership Administration program, has set aside $1.5-2 billion, as a line of credit facility to undertake solar projects in African countries that have signed and ratified the ISA Framework Agreement.
What will ISA do for the solar sector?
Around $1 trillion of capital for solar power projects is expected to be mobilised with this partnership. Of this, $500 billion is expected to come from the corporate sector. In the fifth meeting of the ISA’s international steering committee on 20 February, the proposal to extend the membership to all UN States has been accepted.