After the optimism that was generated in Paris in the previous year, the 22nd Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on climate change in Morocco has been a pretty gloomy affair.
The election of climate-skeptic Donald Trump has actually cast a shadow on the meet and the countries have now strengthened their positions on challenges of the financial aid and also the technology transfer. However on Tuesday, the sun actually shone over the climate meet. Around 20 plus countries came together for signing a framework agreement on the International Solar Alliance (ISA). The alliance will be taking the shape of the international treaty once the rules are properly out. The ISA’s secretariat will be based in Gurgaon, recognition of country’s leading role in forging this alliance.
For India, the ISA’s significance goes above this symbolism. India aims to bring out 100-GW of energy by the end of 2022. This is an extremely ambitious goal looking at its installed solar energy capacity, it is less than 6-GW and the globe’s total installed solar power capacity is less than 200-GW. The costs of the solar power have dropped majorly from INR 10.5/kWh in the year 2012 to less than INR 4.5/kWh in the year 2015.
India actually receives more than three hundred days of sunshine each year. However, solar power can’t be created at night time, or when there is inclement weather. The country needs technology for storing solar energy when the sun is actually not shining. The country could draw on the leadership of the alliance for finding solutions to some of the issues. The ISA looks to bring out cost efficient solar technologies as well as applications. It is also expected to be mobilizing $1 trillion for the funding of solar energy projects by the end of 2030.
Raising such a huge amount of money is definitely going to be a big order given that the developed nations have historically been very stingy while funding renewable energy projects in the developing countries. Even during the best of times, such a huge sum cannot be raised from the public sources alone. The ISA will have to be devising the mechanisms for mobilizing private finances.
The new alliance will also have to be working in tandem with the other bodies like the International Renewable Energy Agency, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership. These issues can be sorted out when the rules are giving shape to the alliance being framed. The country’s role in this endeavour will be critical.
The country has become one of the biggest names when it comes to renewable energy in the past many years. The nation led the International Solar Alliance that is an initiative, which was launched one year ago at COP21 in Paris. India started off pretty well. Among the multi-policies, there are plans for a lot of resilient grids and also development of big scale energy storage to retain the intermittent wind plus solar power when it is required. The nation also intends to become a totally electric vehicle country by the year 2030. Some awesome renewable energy projects are now actually coming across India. The completion of Kamuthi’s will actually mean that the state of TN will now host the world’s second major solar plant and also one of the globe’s major onshore wind farms. A few of the major solar plants are now being built in TN and Andhra.
Source: Indian Express
