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ISA Seeks to Provide Electricity to 733Mln People Worldwide: Minister

The Sixth Assembly of the International Solar Alliance was held in New Delhi. Ministers from 20 countries and delegates from 116 member and signatory countries attended the Assembly.
Sputnik
At the Sixth Assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), India’s Minister of Power and New Renewable Energy (MNRE) R. K. Singh has stated that renewable energy sources have the potential to provide up to 65 per cent of the world's total electricity by 2030 and to decarbonise up to 90 per cent of the power sector by 2050.
Also attending the Assembly were France’s Minister of State for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, Ministry of Power and New Renewable Energy Secretary Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, and ISA Director General Ajay Mathur along with ministers and delegates of member and signatory countries.
Addressing the press conference after the meeting with member countries, Singh said: "Four projects which include solarisation of parliaments and solarisation of health centres in four different countries have been inaugurated today. Earlier, we have completed seven projects which were inaugurated and by December we will complete 12 projects. So, ISA has started to develop and has a presence".

"The reason for this is that there are about 733 million people in the world who don't have access to electricity. Well, ISA believes that its mission is to ensure that these people have access to electricity using renewable energy, especially solar energy, because it is the best as it is available for a longer period of time both in terms of season as well as hours per day," Singh, who is also the President of ISA, added.

The minister emphasized the significance of ISA, highlighting its crucial role in delivering expertise, guidance, support, and establishing training centers primarily in various African nations. The aim is to ensure that technicians are adequately equipped and prepared for their respective fields.

Program for 'Viability Gap Funding'

Moreover, he stated that the ISA also has a program for viability gap funding, it is available for projects that come up in developing countries.
"Today, all the ministers of the member countries who have come here have decided that the viability gap funding will be increased from 10 per cent to 35 per cent so that it can flow in Africa," Singh asserted.
Emphasizing the crucial significance of investing in the solar energy sector, the minister stated that India's accomplishments during the 6th Assembly - which included the establishment of enabling regulatory mechanisms and a techno-regulatory framework - were shared with other nations, with the aim of facilitating their replication.

"This has been done with the intention of attracting investment to the other developing countries, as it has come to India, because no country has enough money to build all the capacity on its own and needs private investment to ensure universal access to electricity," said Singh.

On the sidelines of the Assembly, Sputnik India talked to Ministry of Power and New Renewable Energy Secretary Bhupinder Singh Bhalla about the low momentum of rooftop solar installation in the country despite the significant push from the government, he said that ''perception and lack of awareness across the country''.

"In India, Gujarat has done tremendously well in terms of solar energy, but we need to make sure that people in other states are also excited about this idea. The efficiency may be a bit high or low, as some states have good installations while others have less, but overall rooftop is viable, especially if we give subsidies for residential installations," says Bhalla.

When asked whether the rooftop solar installation is low because of lack of lucrative ROI (return on investment), the MNRE secretary said that the ROI is quite good as a person gets payback in less than six years.

"If you see the rooftop solar panels last for 25 years, and that is just an estimate because it could last even more. So after seven years to 25-30 years, it's absolutely free except for simple maintenance costs or maybe the inverter needs to be changed," Bhalla explained.

He emphasized the importance of developing the ecosystem to encourage more focus on rooftop projects and mentioned that the government is actively organising awareness programs and diligently working to identify and resolve any related issues.
Sputnik India also reached out to ISA Director General Ajay Mathur to ask whether there are any plans to bring solar energy into play to fulfil the increasing energy demand in the country, to which he said that not just solar energy, but renewable energy is being utilised to meet the demand.

"The Railway Energy Management Company (REMC) has already invited bids from four companies to supply 24-hour renewable energy to the Indian Railways at rates ranging from INR 3.99 to INR 4.27 per kilowatt-hour. We are looking at expanding this because there is a project that will require 818 terawatt hours of additional power by 2030. This is now possible," he said.

However, the ISA's director general said that the challenge is always that while it provides cheaper electricity, the amount of investment money is higher, and that's what the ISA is working towards.
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