What is Int’l Solar Alliance?

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is a trillion dollar opportunity to serve humanity and those in the dark, said India’s Minister of State (IC) of Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal, in New York on April 22.

The Minister was speaking at the Roundtable on International Solar Alliance the Trillion Dollar Opportunity- organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Terrawatt Initiative (TWI) under the aegis of the International Solar Alliance The ISA which comprises 121 countries that lie partially or fully between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn is intended to create a platform for larger collaboration for technology, research and development and capacity building. " This is about improving the quality of life of large number of people who are still grappling with problems of energy and accessibility at affordable prices, the Minister said.

The Global Solar Council also committed to creating 25 million jobs in the solar space among the ISA countries. On January 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the President of France, François Hollande, jointly laid the foundation stone of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) headquarters and inaugurated the interim Secretariat of the ISA at National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), Gwalpahari, Gurgaon.

Earlier, India and France launched the ISA to boost solar energy in developing countries at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris on November 30, 2015. The alliance includes around 120 countries that support the “Declaration on the occasion to launch the international solar alliance of countries dedicated to the promotion of solar energy”.

President Hollande acknowledged that developing countries need technology and capacity building to quickly take solar energy to scale, and that initial public financing is important for solar energy to take hold in developing countries. The Government of India has dedicated 5 acre land in NISE campus for the ISA Headquarters and also has contributed Rs 175 crore for ISA corpus fund and also for meeting expenditure for initial five years.

ISA is part of Prime Minister’s vision to bring clean and affordable energy within the reach of all and create a sustainable world. It will be a new beginning for accelerating development and deployment of solar energy for achieving universal energy access and energy security of the present and future generations.