The Indian Minister for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) Piyush Goyal along with his French Counterpart Minister of Environment, Energy and the Sea, in charge of International Relations on Climate Ségolène Royal, launched two new programs under the aegis of the India-lead International Solar Alliance (ISA) on April 23, 2016.
The two programs, namely 'Affordable finance at scale' and 'Scaling solar applications for agricultural use', were started at a side event at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, where country representatives from all over the world had come together to sign the COP21 Climate Change agreement.
The program, which were approved by the ISA International Steering Committee on April 21, 2016, are expected to 'serve the interests of the farming communities in prospective ISA member countries'. These will also ensure that there is sufficient flow of finance for solar projects. Under the programs, the focus will also be on scaling up mature solar technologies that are currently deployed at small scale and taking a look at future technologies with potential and capacity building for massive deployment of solar energy at various scales in respective member nations.
The prospective member nations will begin work on these programs. The ISA Founding Conference to be scheduled in New Delhi later this year will review the process of their implementation.
The session was co-chaired by Goyal and Royal and was attended by ministers and representatives from 25 countries including Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Namibia, Uganda, Nigeria, Peru, Djibouti, Surinam, Zambia, Bolivia, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Mali, India, USA and France.
The prospective member nations will begin work on these programs. The ISA Founding Conference to be scheduled in New Delhi later this year will review the process of their implementation.
ISA is the brainchild of Indian premier Narendra Modi and came into being in December, when India and France jointly announced the initiative at the Paris Climate Conference. As a coalition of currently 121 solar rich countries, the ISA aims to bring together member nations to increase deployment of solar energy technologies with improved access across member nations for sustainable development of people in rural and remote areas. ISA has its interim Secretariat in Gurgaon city of India, which was inaugurated in January this year. The coalition expects to raise $1 trillion from multilateral institutions and private sources.
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