Sixth Assembly of International Solar Alliance organized in New Delhi

The 6th Assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) was held on October 31, 2023 at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. ISA was chaired by India's Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy R.K. Singh served as the President of the ISA Assembly.

• The Assembly was co-chaired by Ms Chrysola Zacharopoulou, Minister of State for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships of France.
• The ISA was attended by ministers from 20 countries and representatives of 116 member and signatory countries.
• The Sixth Assembly of the International Solar Alliance was held in New Delhi during October 30- November 2, 2023.
• The ISA President and Union Minister, while addressing the assembly, said that the International Solar Alliance remains firm in its commitment to the member countries to make solar energy the preferred energy source.

Important facts related to renewable energy sources:

• Nearly 80 percent of the global population, a total of 6 billion people, live in countries that depend on fossil fuel imports.
• Renewable energy sources have the potential to supply 65 percent of the world's electricity by 2030 and decarbonize 90 percent of the electricity sector by 2050.

Some important decisions taken in the sixth assembly of ISA:

• R.K. Singh Addressing a joint press conference with ministers of member countries, said that the sixth assembly of the ISA has decided to increase the Viability Gap Financing (VGF) for projects from 10% to 35%.
• ISA has a program for VGF to provide viability gap financing for projects in developing countries.
• The grant provided under this arrangement is $150,000 per project per country or 10 percent of the project cost (whichever is less).
• A decision was taken on 31 October 2023 to increase the Viability Gap financing from 10 percent to 35 percent of the project cost, depending on the capacity and needs of the countries and their respective projects. This would allow more investment to flow into Africa.

Solar energy projects were brought in some countries: 

• ISA-funded projects were brought to the Parliament of Malawi and solar energy projects in Fiji, Seychelles and Kiribati.

Four projects inaugurated:

• The four projects set up with the assistance of ISA were inaugurated by the Union Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy at the ISA Assembly on 31 October 2023. These projects are:
  • Solarization of the Parliament Building of the Republic of Malawi.
  • Solarization of two rural health care centers in the Republic of Fiji, with an 8-kilowatt solar PV system and 20-kilowatt battery storage capacity for each health center.
  • Establishment of 1 solar powered cold storage of 5 MT capacity for the benefit of agricultural stakeholders at La Digue Island, Republic of Seychelles.
• Solarization of Nawai Junior Secondary School (JSS) in the Republic of Kiribati, with the addition of a 24-kW BSS with a 7-kW solar PV rooftop system.
• The Sixth Assembly of ISA is deliberating on ISA's key initiatives on three important themes: energy access, energy security and energy transformation.
• While dedicating the projects, the ISA President appreciated the efforts of ISA member countries in advancing the cause of energy transformation through solar energy.
• The ISA organization is providing expertise, handholding and training support. Training centers have been set up across Africa. These projects are a part of ISA's initiative to launch demonstration projects in May 2020 to address the needs of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
• Its objective is to showcase solar technology applications that can be scaled up and build the capacity of beneficiary member countries.

International Solar Alliance Energy Conversion:

• The Union Minister said that the International Solar Alliance has emerged as a force for good in the world in pursuit of the twin goals of aiding energy transformation and energy access.
• ISA is one of the most important organizations as the world faces the challenge of global warming. Currently ISA has 120 member states and many more who have signed the ISA Framework Agreement and are due to ratify it shortly. He said that ISA is a big organization, it also has many associate organizations.

Importance of ISA:

• ISA is important because there are about 733 million people in the world who do not have electricity. At ISA we believe that it is ISA's mission to provide energy access to these people using renewable energy sources and among the renewable energy sources solar is the best as it is available for a long time in terms of both weather and hours per day. 

Establishment of ISA Fund:

• The ISA Assembly discussed how the successful energy access and energy transformation practices adopted by India can be replicated in developing countries. We need to de-risk investment so that private investment can come.
• Therefore, on 30 October 2023, ISA also discussed how we can replicate in other countries what ISA has done in India in terms of techno-regulatory framework, dispute settlement mechanism and payment security mechanism, so that private investment Could come.
• To this end, the ISA has established a fund, which has components for insurance and payment protection mechanisms. With these mechanisms in place we are certain that investment flows into Africa will begin.
• The Minister underlined the importance of provision of Green Fund by developed countries in line with their COP21 commitments.

Need to accelerate construction of solar energy in developing countries:

• According to Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General of the International Solar Alliance, we urgently need to accelerate the build-out of solar energy, especially in developing countries and in applications that impact the daily lives of people without access to reliable energy.
• Such as obtaining electricity from solar mini-grid, powering agricultural pumps and running cold storage. This requires capacity building and regulatory changes.
• ISA is facilitating more than 9.5 GW of solar applications in 55 developing countries, including LDCs and SIDS, and has already provided training to nearly 4000 people across the developing world on how to make a living supporting solar energy.

ISA Assembly:

• The Assembly is the top decision-making body of the ISA, with each member state represented. This body takes decisions relating to the implementation of the Framework Agreement of the ISA and coordinated action to achieve its objective.
• The ministerial meeting of the Assembly takes place every year at the ISA venue. It assesses the overall impact of programs and other activities in terms of scale-up, utility, performance, reliability, cost and finance of solar energy.