• The Sixth Assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) was hosted at Bharat Mandapam, in New Delhi and was presided over by the Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy.

The ISA Assembly is the highest decision -making body. It has representatives from all member countries.

• Ministers from 20 countries and delegates from across 116 Member and Signatory countries participated in the Assembly.

MAJOR OUTCOMES

• It was decided to increase viability gap funding for projects from 10% up to 35%.
  • The ISA has a programme for VGF so that viability gap funding is available for projects in developing countries.
• The Global Solar Facility (GSF) is set to receive a capital contribution of $35 million dollars.
  • GSF will provide Payment guarantee fund, insurance fund to mitigate project risks and investment fund for Technical Assistance.
• Four projects set up with ISA’s assistance were inaugurated-
  • Solarisation of the parliament building of the Republic of Malawi
  • Solarisation of two rural health care centres in the Republic of Fiji
  • Installation of 1 solar powered cold storage of capacity 5 MT for the benefit of agricultural stakeholders at La Digue Island, Republic of Seychelles
  • Solarisation of the Nawai Junior Secondary school (JSS) in the Republic of Kiribati

ABOUT INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE

• It is an Indian initiative, jointly launched by India and France in Paris, on the sidelines of COP-21, the UN Climate Conference held in Paris.
• HQ-Gurugram
• Members- 94 countries have signed and ratified (including India).
• It is guided by its ‘Towards 1000’ strategy, which aims-
  • To mobilize USD 1000 billion of investments in solar energy solutions by 2030
  • To deliver energy access to 1000 million people using clean energy solutions
  • To install 1000 GW of solar energy capacity.
  • To mitigate global solar emissions to the tune of 1000 million tonnes of CO2 every year.