India and France have been re-elected as President and Co-President of the International Solar Alliance (ISA). In this regard, India’s Union Minister Raj Kumar Singh, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has been re-elected as the President of ISA, and France’s Minister of State for Development,  Chrysoula Zacharopoulou has been re-elected as Co-President.
- This decision was taken during the 5th assembly of the ISA on October 17-20, 2022 in New Delhi, Delhi which saw the participants from 109 countries.
- It was inaugurated by Union Minister Raj Kumar Singh.
ISA to operationalise ‘Solar Facility’       Â
During the assembly, ISA also approved ‘Solar Facility’, a payment guarantee mechanism which will boost investments into solar through two financial components — Solar Payment Guarantee Fund and Solar Insurance Fund.
Reason behind this facility:
i.The ISA aims to crowdsource investments from various donors across the world to enable proposed projects in Africa to purchase payment guarantees or partial insurance premium from these funds.
ii.This will attract private capital in underserved markets in Africa.
iii.It will ensure a payment and insurance mechanism as a first loss guarantee.
SolarX Grand Challenge:
The ISA Assembly also approved the SolarX Grand Challenge. It is planned to focus on innovation and start-ups that contribute to livelihoods, such as agriculture, health, and small-scale industrial applications.
- This will foster promotion of the solar energy sector, thinning of the gap of the energy crisis, and promoting a solar start-up ecosystem
New Vice-Presidents of Standing Committee announced:
The New Vice-Presidents of the Standing Committee of the ISA Assembly are as follows:
- Somalia and Mali (Africa region)
- Denmark and Sweden (Europe & others)
- Tuvalu and Bangladesh (Asia Pacific)
- Venezuela and Republic of Dominica (Latin America)
Key Points:
i.ISA is the first international intergovernmental organisation to be headquartered in India.
ii.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.
iii.ISA promotes the use of solar energy in the Agriculture, Health, Transport and Power Generation sectors.
iv.It has drafted framework agreement for its ambitious ‘One Sun One World One Grid’ (OSOWOG).
v.The ISA Assembly is the apex decision-making body of ISA, in which each Member Country is represented.
vi.This body makes decisions concerning the implementation of the ISA’s Framework Agreement and coordinated actions to be taken to achieve its objective.
Recent Related News:
i.The World’s largest floating solar plant is set to be built on Omkareshwar Dam in Narmada River at Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh (MP) which will generate 600 Megawatt power by 2022-23. The estimated cost of the projects is around Rs.3000 crore.
ii.ISA in partnership with the Republic of Cuba signed a tender for setting up a 1150 MW solar project in Cuba. NTPC is the project management consultant for ISA for setting up the project.
About International Solar Alliance (ISA):
Director General– Ajay Mathur
Headquarters– Gurugram, Haryana
