International Solar Alliance will Play same role as OPEC: Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: In meeting the energy requirements of the world in the years to come, the International Solar Alliance (ISA) will play the same role as oil-cartel OPEC plays today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

ISA is an inter-governmental treaty-based organisation of countries between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, looking to promote solar energy in the member nations. OPEC currently meets around half of the world’s oil requirements.

India is becoming the most preferred destination for investment in solar energy today, as the country targets to draw 40% of its total energy requirements from nonfossil fuel sources by 2030, he said.


The prime minister was speaking at the inauguration of the first general assembly of ISA, the second edition of India’s flagship renewable energy event Re-Invest and the second Indian Ocean Rim Association Renewable Energy Meet in the city on Tuesday.

In the first general assembly of ISA scheduled on Wednesday, India is likely to propose extending ISA membership which is currently limited to 121 countries, to all 193 members of the United Nations.

“Through ISA, climate-justice has been given a platform. The entire world should get the benefits of ISA,” he said. Modi said that this is the best time to invest in renewable energy, and India looks to create a robust solar components manufacturing ecosystem in the country.

The statement assumes importance as efforts on part of the ministry of new and renewable energy to create local manufacturing capacity for solar panels have received tepid response from the industry.

India is also working on the national energy storage mission and promote creation of demand, indigenous manufacturing, innovation and policy support, a move that will help renewable energy become more reliable in future.

“Renewable energy deployment plans for next four years are likely to generate business prospects of the order of $70-80 billion,” Modi said. “It offers tremendous opportunity to the businesses to leapfrog technologies and create volumes by investing in projects, manufacturing, energy storage and support to startups,” he said.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who also attended the opening ceremony of Re-Invest, called climate change an “existential threat” and maintained that political commitment was essential to combating it.