New Delhi (India), 18 October: India and France are re-elected as President and Co-President of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) at the fifth general assembly of the body. New Vice-Presidents of the Standing Committee of the ISA Assembly – Somalia and Mali (Africa region), Denmark and Sweden (Europe & others), Tuvalu and Bangladesh (Asia Pacific), Venezuela and Reublic of Dominica (Latin America) were also announced.
Union Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh will be the President of ISA while Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, France’s Minister of State for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships, will be co-president of the International Solar Alliance, ISA Director General Ajay Mathur told in a press briefing on Tuesday.
Mathur said that there was only application for the post of President and Co-President from India and France, respectively. He also thanked members and said, “We are grateful to the ISA Assembly for driving the solar agenda and helping catalyze growth in the global clean energy sector.”
The Fifth Assembly of the International Solar Alliance was inaugurated today by Shri Raj Kumar Singh, Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy, India in his capacity as the President, International Solar Alliance. Ministers from 20 countries and delegates from across 110 Member and Signatory countries and 18 prospective countries joined the inaugural ceremony of the 5th ISA Assembly.
In his inaugural address, R K Singh mentioned that the ISA has really grown fast and now it has 110 counties. “We have to bring electricity to 700 million people in the world who are without access (to power) through clean sources.”
He further added, that, “It is our mission that ISA can assist Member Countries in formulating and implementing solar-ready policies and regulatory development of national energy landscapes and for engaging with public and private sector entities to leverage low cost financing to achieve ISA’s solarisation agenda. The ISA is structured as an international resource hub with in-house technical expertise that will be readily accessible by Member Countries and is capable of guiding project implementation at scale. The ISA has come a long way since its formation, and we are moving forward at a great pace, thanks to the guidance and support provided by each and every member of ISA.”
Speaking on the occasion, the Co-President of the Assembly, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, France’s Minister of State for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships said, “We are facing an energy crisis due to the Ukraine war. We are the most affected. Our objective is to accelerate deployment of renewable energy.” She opined that this is not energy imperative, but (ISA or RE) is required for our (member nations) energy independence.
“It is the kind of initiative that reconciles economic development with climate goals. As we move towards COP27, the International Solar Alliance is playing a key role to build a broad coalition in favour of ambitious climate commitments. It can count on France’s full support”, she said.
The International Solar Alliance works with governments to improve energy access and security worldwide and promote solar power as a sustainable way to transition to a carbon-neutral future.
ISA’s mission is to unlock USD 1 trillion of investments in solar by 2030 while reducing the cost of the technology and its financing. It promotes the use of solar energy in the Agriculture, Health, Transport and Power Generation sectors.
The ISA Assembly approved the Solar Facility, a payment guarantee mechanism which is expected to stimulate investments into solar through two financial components: Solar Payment Guarantee Fund and Solar Insurance Fund.
The ISA will soon operationalize Solar Facility to crowdsource investments from various donors across the globe and proposed projects in Africa will be able to purchase payment guarantees or partial insurance premium from these funds.
The ISA Assembly also approved the SolarX Grand Challenge, which is planned to focus on innovation and start-ups, particularly decentralized solar energy applications that contribute to livelihoods, such as agriculture, health, and small-scale industrial applications.
This will foster a three-fold benefit- promotion of the solar energy sector, thinning of the gap of the energy crisis, and promoting a solar start-up ecosystem.
The Assembly is the apex decision-making body of ISA, in which each Member Country is represented. This body makes decisions concerning the implementation of the ISA’s Framework Agreement and coordinated actions to be taken to achieve its objective.
On the sideline of the fifth assembly of ISA, R K Singh, Indian Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy also had a bilateral meeting with Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, the minister of State for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships (Govt. of France). They discussed various issues on furthering cooperation on enhancing global Energy Access and accelerating the Energy Transition. On this occasion, both of them endorsed the Indo-French Roadmap on the Development of Green Hydrogen.
-Dr. M Shahid Siddiqui (PhD); Follow via Twitter @shahidsiddiqui
