“ISA can act as a medium to achieve universal energy access target set up before 2030”- Shri Piyush Goyal
Shri
Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, Mines and New
& Renewable Energy said that International Solar Alliance ( ISA) can
act as a medium to spread lessons on energy security which can help
achieve universal energy access target set up in SDGs before 2030. He
was speaking at the launch of “Scaling Solar MiniGrids” by France and
India on the sidelines of 52nd Annual Meeting of the African Development
Bank (AfDB) in Ahmedabad yesterday.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Goyal called for deeper Indo-African
cooperation. He said that Indian renewable energy sector offers lessons
such as lower and innovative financing models, risk reduction, setting
up large scale solar projects through energy parks. “India has achieved
grid parity in solar tariffs”, he added.
Shri Piyush Goyal also said that Scaling Solar MiniGrids shall work
in tandem with ISA’s over all objectives and already existing two
programmes, namely Scaling Solar Applications for Agricultural Use and
Affordable Finance at Scale launched on 22nd April, 2016. The main
activities under the programme shall include-design and deploy small
grids, adopt common standards, aggregate demand, help establish global
credit enhancement and de-risking mechanisms, call for expression of
interest, assess demand and costs requirement for mini grid projects,
identify/develop attractive payment models for consumers, and persuade
member countries with overseas assistance budgets to earmark a portion
of their soft loan for the Third Programme.
The objective of the event is to cater to the energy needs of ISA
Member states in identified areas with unreliable or no grid(s), and in
island member states having abundant potential to tap solar energy. Such
participating member countries can take advantage of the available
solutions to promote universal energy access and reduce electricity
costs and tariffs through introduction and promotion of mini, micro, and
nano grids with smart features for harnessing solar power, in a time
bound manner.
Mr. Ahmed Said Hassaini Djaffar, Vice President of the Republic of
Comoros in his address welcomed the ISA initiative and stated that
Africa is a solar resource rich region and can help achieve targets in
solar energy.
ISA’s third programme is an attempt to address the challenges in
integrating solar energy into insular or unconnected electricity grids.
The challenges mainly include iniquitous electricity tariff regimes,
small and disaggregated size of the markets, building up of local skill
sets, lack of access to low cost capital, effective interconnection to
grids in rural, remote and urban areas etc. In addition management of
variability, intermittency and its impact on the stability of
small-scale electricity systems also add to the woes.
Recently Expression of Interest have been received from Indian
companies to install 664,000 solar pumps, install 56 MW of Minigrids and
train 5400 solar mechanics in the African countries who have signed and
ratified the ISA Framework Agreement. Government of India is extending a
US $ 10 billion line of credit for undertaking developmental work in
African countries. On the request of ISA, Government of India has agreed
to earmark 15-20% of this line of credit for undertaking solar related
projects. H.E. Mrs. Ségolène Royal, Minister for Environment, Energy
and Marine Affairs of France, in charge of International Relations on
climate change, was the main architect and motivator to launch this
programme during such a short period. Delegation from the French Embassy
was present too on this occasion.
The International Solar Alliance is an initiative jointly launched
by the Honourable Prime Minister of India and Honourable President of
France on 30th November 2015 at Paris, in the presence of the Secretary
General of the UN, on the side lines of COP21. The main objective of ISA
is to undertake joint efforts required to reduce the cost of finance
and the cost of technology, mobilize more than US $ 1000 billion of
investments needed by 2030 for massive deployment of solar energy, and
pave the way for future technologies adapted to the needs of 121
countries lying fully or partially between the Tropics. So far 31
countries have signed the Framework Agreement of the ISA, which is the
first international and intergovernmental organization to be
headquartered in India.
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