ISA vows to lower finance cost, talks of USD 1 trn investment

Participating nations at an event on the International Solar Alliance (ISA) have pledged to take concerted action to lower finance cost and facilitate investment flow of over USD 1 trillion in solar assets, among a raft of other initiatives.
Power, Coal and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal, French Minister of Environment, Energy and the Sea, and President of COP 21 Segolene Royal co-chaired the ministerial side event on ISA at the UN here yesterday, the power ministry said.
Ministers and representatives from over 25 countries, including Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, the US and France, were in attendance.
Two programmes -- 'Affordable finance at scale' and 'Scaling solar applications for agricultural use' -- were rolled out during the event.

"In order to accelerate massive deployment of solar energy at various scales in their countries, the ministers agreed to take concerted action through targeted programmes launched on a voluntary basis," the ministry stated.
A decision was also taken to work on mature solar technologies that are currently deployed only at a small scale and need to be scaled up as well as future technologies and capacity building through strategic and collaborative solar research and development (R&D).

This is expected to improve efficiency and integration of solar power, as also increase its applications.
As a first step, the ministers agreed to analyse and share requirements, objectives and obstacles to the deployment along the value chain for those applications for which they seek benefits of collective action under the alliance.

It was agreed that a common buyer market for solar finance, technology, innovation, capacity building will lead to higher quality, lower costs, products better tailored to needs, collaborative innovation, technology ownership and a more balanced dialogue with all the stakeholders.
This will empower solar-rich countries, lying fully or partially between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, which share common challenges and opportunities, the ministry added.
Goyal hoped that ISA will provide a vibrant platform to bring together countries with rich solar potential to aggregate demand globally, potentially reducing prices and promoting collaborative R&D.
Prospective members will begin work at the earliest and the process of implementation will be reviewed at the Founding Conference of ISA scheduled to be held in the near future in New Delhi, the power ministry said.