'International body's HQ a new beginning for solar power development'

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) headquarters in Gurgaon will be a new beginning for solar power development in the country, the government said on Thursday.

Prime Ministe Narendra Modi and visiting French President Francois Hollande will jointly lay the foundation stone of the ISA headquarters next week.

Both the leaders will also inaugurate the ISA interim secretariat at the National Institute of Solar Energy in Gurgaon in the national capital region.

"The ISA will be a major international body headquartered in India", New and Renewable Energy Ministry (MNRE) Secretary Upendra Tripathy told reporters here.

"It will be a new beginning for accelerating development and deployment of solar energy for achieving universal energy access and energy security of the present and future generations," he said.

Declaring India's intent to build an iconic structure for the ISA secretariat, Tripathy said India had offered Rs.100 crore ($15 million) for creating an ISA corpus fund.

The union power ministry said in a release here that the ISA is an Indian initiative.

"It is an alliance of 121 solar resource-rich countries lying fully or partially between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn," a MNRE statement said here.

The ISA was jointly launched by Modi and Hollande on November 30, 2015, at Paris during the 21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Representatives from around 70 countries, including more than 30 heads of states and government, participated in the ISA launch ceremony, the statement added.

The MNRE said it had formed an interim administrative cell to facilitate the setting up of the ISA.