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The Fifth Assembly Meeting of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) on Tuesday approved ’Solar Facility’ — a payment guarantee mechanism.
The mechanism is expected to stimulate investments into the solar energy sector through two key financial components— Solar Payment Guarantee Fund and Solar Insurance Fund. ISA’s mission is to unlock $1 trillion in investments in the solar power sector by 2030 while reducing the cost of technology and financing.
Ajay Mathur, the ISA’s Director General, said on the sidelines of the meeting that India and France were re-elected as President and Co-President, respectively, for two years.
‘Payment and insurance mechanism‘
Solar Facility is expected to stimulate high-potential solar technologies by attracting private capital to flow into underserved markets in Africa, while ensuring a payment and insurance mechanism as a first loss guarantee. It will crowdsource investments from various donors across the globe and proposed projects in Africa will be able to purchase payment guarantees or partial insurance premiums from these funds.
“We have to bring electricity to 700 million people in the world who are without access (to power) through clean sources,” Power Minister RK Singh emphasised at the briefing. The deliberations at the Assembly are focused on critical issues of energy access, security and transition, he added.
France’s Minister of State for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou 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.”
Standing Committee
New Vice-Presidents of the Standing Committee of the ISA Assembly - Somalia and Mali (Africa region), Denmark and Sweden (Europe & others), Tuvalu and Bangladesh (Asia Pacific), Venezuela and Republic of Dominica (Latin America) were also announced.
Singh will be the President of ISA, while Zacharopoulou will be the Co-President.
The ISA Assembly also approved the SolarX Grand Challenge, which will focus on innovation and start-ups, particularly decentralised 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 of a solar start-up ecosystem.
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