<strong>The International Solar Alliance</strong>
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☆ It is an alliance of more than 120 countries, most of them being sunshine countries, which come either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
☆ The primary objective is to collectively work for efficient exploitation of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil based fuels.
☆ This initiative was proposed by our Prime Minister of India first during his speech at Wembley Stadium, London.
☆ This initiative was launched at the India Africa Summit and a meeting was held among them before the conclave of 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris on November 2015.
☆ This is a treaty-based inter-governmental organization. The alliance will take the shape of an international treaty once its rules are worked out.
☆ The Headquarters is in India with its Interim Secretariat being setup in Gurgaon.
☆ The agreement will become operational after at least 15 countries have ratified it.
☆ The framework agreement says that the members of ISA would take coordinated actions through programmes and activities that will aggregate the demands for solar finance, solar technologies, innovation, research and development, and capacity building.
☆ The ISA aims to develop cost-efficient solar technologies and applications.
☆ It is also expected to mobilise $1 trillion for funding solar energy projects by 2030.
Member Nations:
☆ A total of 106 countries have signed the ISA Framework Agreement.
☆ Out of 106 nations, 86 have signed and ratified the ISA Framework Agreement.
☆ All member states of the United Nations are eligible to join the ISA.
Headquarters:
☆ The Headquarters is in India with its Interim Secretariat being set up in Gurugram.
What are the 4-Priority Areas of the Program?
☆ These priority areas are basically intended to create a favorable environment for solar energy investments to take root in the country.
★ Analytics & Advocacy
★ Capacity Building
★ Programmatic Support
★ Readiness and enabling activities
What are the Key Responsibilities of Assembly?
☆ The Assembly of the ISA is the apex decision-making body which comprises representatives from each Member Nations.
☆ The assembly deliberates matters of substances such as:
★ The selection of the Director General.
What are the Important projects of the ISA?
One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG):
About:
★ The OSOWOG focuses on a framework for facilitating global cooperation, building a global ecosystem of interconnected renewable energy resources (mainly solar energy) that can be seamlessly shared.
★ The vision behind the OSOWOG is ‘The Sun Never Sets’ and is a constant at some geographical location, globally, at any given point of time.
★ This is by far one of the most ambitious schemes undertaken by any country and is of global significance in terms of sharing economic benefits.
★ It has been taken up under the technical assistance program of the World Bank.
ISA Solar Technology and Application Resource Centre (ISTAR C):
About:
★ To build a network of technical training, entrepreneurship, and research and innovation centres in order to exchange best practices and promote knowledge dissemination and capacity-building.
★ To develop and disseminate a range of training materials for all types of audiences and aim at the setting up of harmonized training programmes using a network of training facilities that would be recognized across the ISA Member countries.
★ To work on standardization of solar applications at the regional or sub-regional level and provide testing and technical certification capabilities to key STAR-centres.
★ To enable collaborative research and development among the ISA Member countries.
Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Scheme:
About:
★ The Government of India has been supporting the ISA by providing training to master trainers in the field of solar energy through the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Scheme.
★ The duration of the training is 21 days and all costs are borne by the Government of India.
★ In 2018-2019, 133 candidates from 25 countries were trained at the National Institute of Solar Energy, Gurugram, with the support of the ITEC programme.
