India commits $1.4 billion for solar energy worldwide

India commits $1.4 billion for solar energy worldwide

Context

India on Sunday announced one of the world’s largest investment plans in solar energy at the Founding Conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA). The $1.4 billion line of credit will cover 27 projects in 15 countries and boost the much-required financial power to the solar sector

France’s contribution

France has already committed to providing an additional €700 million in loans and support by 2022 to emerging economies for solar energy projects

Issues to be addressed as per French President

He identified three issues to be addressed —

1. The solar energy potential in each country should be identified
2. Mobilisation of finance; and
3. The provision of a favourable framework

Occasion: ISA founding Conference in New Delhi

What is this alliance?

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then French President Francois Hollande at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris on November 30, 2015

Intention behind creation of ISA

The idea was to form a coalition of solar resource-rich countries to collaborate on addressing the identified gaps in their energy requirements through a common approach

• Target: Towards this, the ISA has set a target of 1 TW of solar energy by 2030, which current French President Emmanuel Macron said would require $1 trillion to achieve.

Who are the member countries?

The ISA is open to 121 prospective member countries, most of them located between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn as this is the region worldwide with a surplus of bright sunlight for most of the year (sunshine countries)

• So far, however, only 56 countries have signed the ISA Framework Agreement

What is India’s role?

Apart from being a founding-member, India plays a significant role in the alliance in terms of being a host as well as a major contributor to the achievement of the target.

• The ISA is the first international body that will have a secretariat in India
• India, with a target to produce 100 GW of solar energy by 2022, would account for a tenth of ISA’s goal. “India will produce 175 GW electricity from renewable sources by 2022 and 100 GW will be from solar energy,” Mr. Modi said, addressing the ISA