Fifth Assembly of International Solar Alliance to be held from Oct 17; solar & mini-grids answer to universal access of energy, says Power Minister

• International Solar Alliance’s Fifth Assembly will be held in New Delhi from 17th to 20th October. Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister R.K Singh will preside over the Assembly.
• He unveiled the curtain raiser to the Fifth Assembly of the International Solar Alliance yesterday, October 6. He said India’s pace of Energy Transition is the fastest in the world and International Solar Alliance is absolutely essential for the planet’s goal of Energy Transition.
• The Minister said that solar energy is the cheapest source of energy. He added that solar and mini-grids are the answer to universal access of energy in the world. The Minister said, ISA is the essential vehicle to fulfill the international pledges on Energy Transition.
• The Assembly is the apex decision-making body of ISA, in which each Member country is represented. It meets annually at the ministerial level and assesses the aggregate effect of the programmes and other activities in terms of deployment of solar energy and performance among others.
• India holds the office of the President of the ISA Assembly. Ministers, missions, and delegates from 109 Member and Signatory Countries will participate in this meeting.

About International Solar Alliance:

• The ISA was conceived as a joint effort by India and France to mobilise efforts against climate change through the deployment of solar energy solutions.
• It was presented by the leaders of the two countries at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Paris in 2015.
• ISA is a coalition of solar resource rich countries lying fully or partially between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn to specifically address energy needs by harnessing solar energy.
• The Paris Declaration establishes ISA as an alliance dedicated to the promotion of solar energy among its member countries.
• ISA brings together countries with rich solar potential to aggregate global demand, thereby reducing prices through bulk purchase.
• It facilitates the deployment of existing solar technologies at scale, and promotes collaborative solar R&D and capacity building.