Founding Conference of International Solar Alliance

The founding conference of the India-initiated International Solar Alliance (ISA) was held in New Delhi on March 11. President of India had hosted dinner for all the members of ISA who had attended the founding Conference.

International Solar Alliance
  • The ISA, launched at the UN Conference of Parties (CoP) climate summit in Paris on November 30,2015, by Indian Prime Minister and then French President Francois Hollande, in the presence of the Secretary General of the UN, on the side lines of COP21 UN Climate Change Conference
  • It is conceived as a coalition of solar resource-rich countries to address their special energy needs and provide a platform to collaborate on dealing with the identified gaps through a common, agreed approach.
  • It is open to all 121 prospective member countries falling between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
  • The interim secretariat of the ISA was inaugurated on January 25,2016.

ISA

  • The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is an alliance of more than 121 countries, most of them being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The countries were referred as Suryaputra (Sons of Sun)
  • The primary objective of the alliance is to work for efficient exploitation of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
  • The alliance is a treaty-based inter-governmental organization. Countries that do not fall within the Tropics can join the alliance and enjoy all benefits as other members, with the exception of voting rights
  • The framework agreement of the International Solar Alliance opened for signatures in Marrakech, Morocco in November 2016.

ISA has presently four ongoing programmes:

  • Scaling Solar Applications for Agricultural Use
  • Affordable Finance at Scale
  • Scaling Solar Mini Grids
  • Scaling Solar Rooftop catering to the needs of solar energy in specific areas.

The Framework Agreement coming into force on 6th December 2017, the ISA became the first international intergovernmental treaty based organization to be headquartered in India.

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) signed Host Country Agreement in New Delhi. The agreement gives ISA juridical personality and power to contract, acquire and dispose off movable and immovable properties and also to institute and defend legal proceedings.

Objectives of ISA

The main objective of ISA is to undertake joint efforts required to

  • reduce the cost of finance and the cost of technology
  • mobilize more than US $ 1000 billion of investments needed by 2030 for massive deployment of solar energy,
  • pave the way for future technologies adapted to the needs of its members.

Examrace Team at Aug 21, 2021