India, France co-hosts International Solar Alliance summit

India, France co-hosted first International Solar Alliance (ISA) Summit at  Rashtrapati Bhavan Convention Centre in New Delhi. The aim of the summit was to deliberate on finance mechanism for promotion of solar energy in member countries, crowd-funding and technology transfer.

Key Facts

The summit was co-hosted by President Ram Nath Kovind and his French counterpart President Emmanuel Macron. It was attended by 21 heads of states and heads of government, several top ministers and bureaucrats apart from participants from multilateral banks and United Nations. Its focus was to mobilise $1 trillion of investments needed by 2030 for massive deployment of solar energy. The summit was of particular significance to India as it strives to achieve ambitious target of generating 175 GW of renewable energy, including 100 GW of solar energy, by 2022.

Key Takeaway from Summit

10-point action plan: It was presented by India. It includes making affordable solar technology available to all nations, raising share of electricity generated from photovoltaic cells, framing regulations and standards, providing consultancy support for bankable solar projects and creating network of centres for excellence.
Common risk mitigation mechanism: It was announced by France. It will be put in place before the end of 2018. The mechanism was developed by taskforce comprising Council on Energy, Environment and Water, Terrawatt Initiaitve and The Currency Exchange Fund (TCX).
Delhi Solar Agenda: It was launched at founding summit, which states that countries will pursue increased share of solar energy in final energy consumption in their respective national energy mix to tackle global challenges of climate change.
Commitment to increase share of solar power: As many as 62 member-nations committed that they will increase share of solar power in their energy mix to deal with climate change and provide energy to underprivileged in society.
Financial Contribution: India will give $1.4 billion in aid to 15 other developing nations for 27 more solar projects. It already has contributed $62 million to ISA corpus fund and for establishment of ISA secretariat. Beside this, France will provide €700 million in loans and support by 2022 to emerging economies for solar energy projects.

International Solar Alliance (ISA)

ISA is treaty-based inter-governmental organisation (first to be based in India) that was established following as an alliance dedicated to the promotion of solar energy among its member countries. It is one of the key takeaways at the 2015 Paris Climate summit. ISA is aimed at tapping solar energy in countries that lie partially or fully between Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. It is headquartered in India.

Month: Current Affairs - March, 2018