International Solar Alliance

  • The ISA was launched at the 2015 Paris Climate Change Summit (COP21) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande.
  • It seeks to empower solar-rich countries located between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn to make collaborative efforts to harness solar energy to generate the electricity.
  • Under this alliance, 121 countries that fall within the tropics have been invited. Most of these countries fall within Asia, Africa and South America.
  • Originally member countries are to be those that enjoy 300 or more days in a year of bright sunlight. But now membership is thrown open to all countries that want to join the grouping. There will be no restrictions on duration of sunlight or geographical location.
  • The ISA Framework Agreement entered into force in December 2017 making ISA treaty based International Intergovernmental Organization with
headquarters at Gurugram, India.
  • As of now the ISA Framework Agreement has been signed by 101 countries.
  • The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has granted Observer Status to the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
  • Objectives of ISA
    • 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 way for future technologies adapted to needs of solar rich 121 countries lying fully or partially between Tropic of Cancer and Capricon.
  • ISA’s 4 ongoing programmes
    • Scaling Solar Mini Grids;
    • Affordable Finance at Scale.
    • Scaling Solar Applications for Agricultural Use.
    • Scaling Solar Rooftop catering to the needs of solar energy in specific areas.
  • India and France have launched a programme with $1 trillion Potential Solar Programme under the International Solar Alliance (ISA). It is a solar finance programme that aims at helping developing countries to fully harness their solar resources for a clean energy future. The solar finance programme aims at lowering the cost of finance and facilitates the flow of more than 1 trillion dollars investment to members of the ISA.
  • USA has also joined it.
  • ISA is the nodal agency for implementing One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG), which seeks to connect 140 countries through a common grid that will be used to transfer solar power generated in one region to feed the electricity demands of others.

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