International Solar Alliance Well-suited To Bring Major Changes In Member Countries: Experts

Amid the ongoing conversations about adopting green energy, experts at a recent event have said that the International Solar Alliance (ISA) is well-suited to bring these changes to its member countries. Notably, it is an alliance of more than 120 signatory countries, most being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. 

While speaking at the curtain raiser event of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) sixth assembly session, RK Singh, Union Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy and President, International Solar Alliance Assembly said, "When we launched our campaign to ensure universal access to energy, solar played a major role. Among all other renewable energies, solar has the upper hand. It is much more reliable, easily available and it is available for more months in a year."

Singh added that in India, wind is available for three to four months a year during the monsoon period, during other months its availability is low. He believes that solar has the advantage of being much more reliable and available as compared to other renewable energies. 

"Solar energy is more capable of being deployed in small sizes or kilowatts which makes it best suited for energy access for homes, including the ones that are situated in villages and remote hilly areas,” the minister added.

Talking about solar, Singh asserted that the supply chain problem begins with polysilicon. Now 88 per cent of the world's total polysilicon manufacturing capacity is concentrated in one country. As of now, India has about 50,000 MGW of manufacturing capacity in different stages. 

Also, 40,000 MGW of module manufacturing capacity is already established 25,000 MGW from before and 15,000 has been added. "By the end of 2030, India will have about 100,000 megawatts of manufacturing capacity from polysilicon to modules," according to the minister and president.

Talking more about the alliance, Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said that ISA also signifies the importance of financing solar deployment. “India has confidence that ISA’s objectives will ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all," he mentioned.

Notably, officials informed that ISA is providing financial assistance of grants up to USD 50,000 for demonstration projects and facilitating the availability of trained human resources through the STAR-C initiative. As the world moves forward, India remains steadfast in its commitment to the expansion and strengthening of ISA, experts noted.

Ajay Mathur, Director General, International Solar Alliance said, "ISA is supporting the growth of 9.5 GW solar energy in projects across the world. More important is supporting the institutional development of these projects. This involves setting up institutional infrastructure for bidding, framing of regulations, demonstration projects and capacity for running the projects."

Mathur also stated that there are various kinds of capacity-building programmes which are underway. "We look forward to creating a lot more STAR-C centres focussed on the development of national programmes within the countries. Next year at the Assembly, we hope to see approval of projects in various countries,” he said.