India, France re-elected as President, Co-President of International Solar Alliance

New Delhi: India and France are re-elected as President and Co-President of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) at the fifth general assembly of the body.

Union Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh will be the President of ISA while Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, France's Minister of State for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships, will be co-president of the International Solar Alliance, ISA Director General Ajay Mathur told reporters on Tuesday.

Mathur said that there was only application for the post of President and Co-President from India and France, respectively.

R K Singh mentioned that the ISA has really grown fast and now it has 110 counties. "We have to bring electricity to 700 million people in the world who are without access (to power) through clean sources." Chrysoula said, "We are facing an energy crisis due to the Ukraine war. We are the most affected. Our objective is to accelerate deployment of renewable energy." She opined that this is not energy imperative, but (ISA or RE) is required for our (member nations) energy independence.

The International Solar Alliance works with governments to improve energy access and security worldwide and promote solar power as a sustainable way to transition to a carbon-neutral future.

ISA’s mission is to unlock USD 1 trillion of investments in solar by 2030 while reducing the cost of the technology and its financing. It promotes the use of solar energy in the Agriculture, Health, Transport and Power Generation sectors.

The ISA Assembly approved the Solar Facility, a payment guarantee mechanism which is expected to stimulate investments into solar through two financial components: Solar Payment Guarantee Fund and Solar Insurance Fund.

The ISA will soon operationalize Solar Facility to crowdsource investments from various donors across the globe and proposed projects in Africa will be able to purchase payment guarantees or partial insurance premium from these funds.

The ISA Assembly also approved the SolarX Grand Challenge, which is planned to focus on innovation and start-ups, particularly decentralized solar energy applications that contribute to livelihoods, such as agriculture, health, and small-scale industrial applications.

This will foster a three-fold benefit– promotion of the solar energy sector, thinning of the gap of the energy crisis, and promoting a solar start-up ecosystem.

The Assembly is the apex decision-making body of ISA, in which each Member Country is represented. This body makes decisions concerning the implementation of the ISA’s Framework Agreement and coordinated actions to be taken to achieve its objective.