India-led solar alliance to add 1,000GW of energy by 2030

BONN: Set to become a legal entity in December, the India-led International Solar Alliance (ISA) plans to add 1,000 gigawatt (GW) of solar power across the globe by 2030 with an investment of nearly 1,200 billion euros.

ISA’s future plans were made public here in Bonn on the sidelines of the ongoing UN climate change conference (COP23).

India had earlier planned to disclose details of ISA’s agenda next month during the alliance’s first global summit in Delhi. The inaugural summit has, however, now been deferred due to postponement of French President Emmanuel Macron’s India visit.


Macron was earlier expected to attend the summit on December 9 during his India visit. The mega meet is now expected to be scheduled early next year, depending on availability of Macron and PM Narendra Modi.

ISA is India’s brainchild and is meant to bring 121 solar rich countries on a single platform to explore ways to utilise and promote solar energy.

The alliance was jointly launched by PM Modi and the then French President Francois Hollande in Paris on November 30, 2015. Since France had been quite active on this Indian initiative to forge a global coalition to harness solar energy, India is keen to have Macron on board at ISAs inaugural summit.

“We have had discussion on the issue here with the French government’s special envoy for implementation of ISA, Ségolène Royal. Fresh dates are being explored, keeping in mind the availability of PM Modi and President Macron.

The summit is likely to be held early next year,” said Anand Kumar, secretary in the ministry of new and renewable energy, on Tuesday. Kumar said member countries had been proactively working on their solar goals and achieving the target of 1,000GW by 2030 would be a collective goal.

The current installed global capacity of solar power is around 303GW, including 12GW in India. Nearly 75GW of solar power was added globally in 2016. India had in 2015 revised its solar power target from 20 GW to 100 GW by 2022. So far, 44 countries have signed the ISA framework agreement.