20 October 2022.
Introduction:
The ‘Solar Facility’ has been approved by the International Solar Alliance at its 5th Assembly Meeting.
Highlights:
Solar Facility is a payment guarantee mechanism under the ISA framework.
This initiative was launched to attract investments into the solar energy sector, in line with the ISA goal of unlocking $1 trillion in solar energy investments by 2030. It is also to reduce the cost of financing and technology.
The Solar Facility has 2 components – Solar Payment Guarantee Fund and Solar Insurance Fund
This facility will crowd-source investments from various private donors from across the world. Under-served solar power projects in Africa will then purchase payment guarantees and partial insurance premiums from this fund.
5th ISA Assembly Meeting
- The Assembly is the top decision-making body of the ISA. It convenes annually at the ministerial level to take key decisions towards the implementation of the Alliance’s framework.
- The 1st ISA Assembly Meeting was organized in 2018 in Greater Noida. The Delhi Solar Agenda was adopted at this meeting. The 5th Assembly of the ISA was held at New Delhi. 109 countries attended this 4-day event.
- India was re-elected as the ISA President and France as the Co-President for the next 2 years. The Assembly has approved the SolarX Grand Challenge, focusing on decentralized solar energy solutions in the fields like health, agriculture, small-scale industries, etc. from innovators and startups.
- This challenge has 3 advantages – promoting solar energy sector, reducing gap of energy crisis and promoting solar start-up ecosystem
International Solar Alliance
The ISA is an initiative launched by India and France on the side-lines of COP-21, Paris in 2015. The Alliance seeks to collectively address the challenges in the way of solar energy adoption. It is headquartered in Gurugram, India. As of now, 106 countries have signed the Alliance’s Framework Agreement. Of these, 86 countries have ratified the agreement.