First Assembly of International Solar Alliance to be held in India

First Assembly expected to lay the foundation for global Solar Agenda

The Indian Government’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is organising the First Assembly of International Solar Alliance (ISA), the 2nd Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Renewable Energy Ministerial Meeting and the 2nd Global Renewable Energy Investment Meeting and Expo (REINVEST- 2018), from 2nd to 5th October 2018 in New Delhi.

The three events will be inaugurated in a common function by the Prime Minister of India, in the presence of Antonio Guterres, Secretary General, United Nations on 2nd October 2018 in Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. The Business and Technical Sessions of ISA Assembly, IORA Meet and RE-INVEST 2018 Expo will be held at India Expo Mart, Greater Noida, UP.

Photo by Andreas Gücklhorn on Unsplash

The first assembly is expected to lay the foundation for global Solar Agenda. The Assembly, as supreme decision making body of the ISA, will steer the process to significantly harness solar energy for achieving universal energy access at affordable rates. The Assembly will adjudicate upon various administrative, financial and programme related issues. Ministers from ISA Treaty Framework signatory countries have been invited for the Assembly. The countries that have ratified the ISA Treaty Framework will attend the Assembly, as Members. Countries that have signed but are yet to ratify the ISA Treaty Framework will attend the Assembly as Observers.

“Till date, we have received delegation confirmation from 18 ministerial-level delegations for attending the 1st Assembly of ISA besides many partner organisations and observers,” the ministry said in a statement.

The International Solar Alliance (ISA), an Indian initiative, was launched jointly by Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India and François Hollande, President of France on 30 November 2015 in Paris, France on the side-lines of the 21st Conference of Parties (CoP 21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The Alliance, recognising that solar energy provides potential member solar resource rich countries lying fully or partially between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, with an unprecedented opportunity to bring prosperity, energy security and sustainable development to their peoples, opened ISA Framework Agreement for signature on 15 November 2016 in Marrakech, Morocco, on the side-lines of COP-22.

In conformity with the ISA Framework Agreement, 30 days after ratification by the 15th country, on 6 December 2017, ISA became the first full-fledged treaty based international intergovernmental organization headquartered in India. Through this initiative, the countries, inter alia, share the collective ambition: (i) to address obstacles that stand in the way of rapid and massive scale-up of solar energy; (ii) to undertake innovative and concerted efforts for reducing the cost of finance and cost of technology for immediate deployment of competitive solar generation, mobilise more than 1000 Billion US Dollars of investments by 2030. The Government of India has committed Rs.175 crore for setting up of ISA and till date released a sum of Rs 140 crore for creating a corpus fund, building infrastructure and meeting day to day recurring expenditure.

On 11 March 2018, the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi and the President of France, H.E. Emmanuel Macron co-hosted the Founding Conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA). Forty eight countries, including India participated in this conference. In addition, there were representations from the United Nations, Multilateral Development Banks, energy-related think tanks, corporate sector and civil society.

The Delhi Solar Agenda, adopted in the Founding Conference of the ISA, states that the ISA member States inter-alia have agreed to pursue an increased share of solar energy in the final energy consumption in respective national energy mix, as a means of tackling global challenges of climate change and as a cost-effective solution by supporting and implementing policy initiatives and participation of all relevant stakeholders, as applicable, in respective States.

Consequent to the Founding Conference, the first Assembly of ISA will be held from 2nd to 5th October 2018. Till date, out of 121 prospective member countries that lie either fully or partially between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, 68 countries have signed the Framework Agreement of the ISA. Out of 68 countries that have signed Framework Agreement of the ISA, 44 countries have deposited the instrument of ratification.

The Indian Ocean Rim Association was set up with the objective of strengthening regional cooperation and sustainable development within the Indian Ocean Region with 21 Member States and 7 Dialogue Partners. The last Renewable Energy Ministerial Meeting was held on 21st January, 2014 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Subsequently, during the meeting of IORA Council of Ministers, held in October, 2016 in Bali, Indonesia, it was decided that the next conference will be held in India. In line with the commitment made, India will be hosting 2nd IORA Renewable Energy Ministerial meet from 2nd to 4th October, 2018. In this meeting, Ministers and delegates from all 21 member-countries are expected to participate. India, Australia, Iran IR, Indonesia Thailand, Malaysia, South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Singapore, Mauritius, Madagascar, UAE, Yemen, Seychelles, Somalia, Comoros and Oman are members of IORA.

The 2nd RE-INVEST aims at accelerating the worldwide effort to scale up renewable energy and connect the global investment community with Indian energy stakeholders. It will include a three-day Conference on renewables, cleantech and future energy choices, and an Expo of renewables-related manufacturers, developers, investors and innovators. The event is expected to be attended by Ministerial Delegations from across the world, including ISA and IORA Member Countries, over 600 global industry leaders, and 10,000 delegates.