INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE

to provide a dedicated platform for cooperation among solar resource-rich countries 

Earlier, there was no specific body in place to address the specific solar technology deployment needs of the solar resource-rich countries located between the Tropic of Cancer & the Tropic of Capricorn 

The absence of universal energy access, energy equity, & affordability are issues common to most of the solar resource-rich countries.

 International Solar Alliance (ISA) is conceived as a coalition of solar resource-rich countries to address their special energy needs & will provide a platform to collaborate on addressing the identified gaps through a common, agreed approach 

It will not duplicate or replicate the efforts that others (like International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), International Energy Agency (IEA), Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st  Century (REN21), United Nations bodies, bilateral organizations etc.) 

The International Solar Alliance was unveiled at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris on November 30, 2015  & headquartered in India.

India is a founding member of ISA. The ISA is the first international body that will have a secretariat in India. 

the ISA is open to 121 prospective member countries, most of them located between the Tropics of Cancer & Capricorn as this is the region worldwide with a surplus of bright sunlight for most of the year.

So far, 56 countries have signed the ISA Framework Agreement. 

aimed at better harmonizing & aggregating demand for, solar finance, solar technologies, innovation, research & development, & capacity building.

The Secretariat maintains a database of these assessments in order to highlight the potential for cooperation.

On June 30, 2016, the alliance entered into an understanding with the World Bank for accelerating mobilization of finance for solar energy 

On June 30, 2016, the alliance entered into an understanding with the World Bank for accelerating mobilization of finance for solar energy 

The cost of finance for solar projects in many developing countries is often prohibitively high.

ISA envisions that collective measures can facilitate the flow of over $1 trillion into solar projects

a multi-country foreign exchange hedging facility could remove one of the biggest contributors to higher costs of finance for countries whose currencies are not pegged to internationally traded currencies

a multi-country foreign exchange hedging facility could remove one of the biggest contributors to higher costs of finance for countries whose currencies are not pegged to internationally traded currencies. 

Many technology applications are already commercially viable, if promoted through innovative business models such as fees-for-service for solar home systems, community ownership of assets like solar pumps

ISA has already launched a major programme on scaling solar applications in agriculture and has another proposed programme on financing for off-grid energy access.

Investors are likely to draw more confidence in a group of countries that followed similar procedures on, say, reverse auctions to allocate solar projects, or standardised templates for power purchase agreements. 

ISA could help to coordinate these policies. Since programmes would be member-driven, there is little risk that the institution would be accused of impugning the sovereignty of members.

in order to avoid the trap of getting locked into existing technologies, there needs to be collaborative, cross-country R&D, which ISA hopes to facilitate 

Whereas the major solar powers are already investing in R&D, collaborative research would pool resources in cash and kind, and offer more markets in which to test technologies. 

ISA R&D prizes and advance market commitments could be announced to stimulate research in preselected areas, such as increasing the efficiency of solar panels or reducing the costs of manufacturing in developing countries

ISA has plans to address related market-limiting factors, by launching standardised skill training programmes and reducing information asymmetries through a 24x7 knowledge hub.

ISA faces two real dangers. Whether it devolves into a bloated bureaucracy. Although conceived as an intergovernmental institution, ISA is not intended to be a typical international bureaucracy.

Its extremely lean Secretariat possibly smaller than any other international agency 

A tight budget and a direct link to the private sector would hold ISA 

The more proximate danger is that 121 potential member countries get caught up in a battle over legal form, membership rights, and giving precedence to procedure over pragmatism.

key backers of ISA start speaking loudly, clearly and frequently about ISA’s vision, activities and their added value.

There are many interested parties — in governments and in international markets — and we cannot afford for their interest to flag.

40 countries attending the inauguration of the first general assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA)

The ISA was conceptualised by India and France during the COP-21 conference in 2015 

Palau became the 76th country to sign the ISA Framework Agreement, which till date has been ratified by a total of 54 of the 76 countries

The ISA has set a target of 1 TW of solar energy by 2030, which would require $1 trillion to achieve.

India has set an ambitious target of 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022, which includes 100 GW of solar and 60 GW of wind energy.

The Indian government will contribute $27 million to the ISA for building infrastructure and recurring expenditure over a 5-year duration from 2016-17 to 2020-21.

According to Reuters, France will commit 700 million euros to the alliance. The ISA is the first international body that will have a secretariat in India