US joins International Solar Alliance; 101st country to pledge global adoption of solar energy [details]

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's unwavering focus on global adoption of solar energy is seeing welcoming response from major countries, now more than ever. At the UNFCCC COP26 on Wednesday, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry announced that the United States has joined the International Solar Alliance (ISA) as a member country.

The US has become the 101st country to sign the framework agreement of the ISA to catalyse global energy transition through a solar-led approach. Kerry highlighted PM Modi's instrumental role in making the International Solar Alliance.

"It has long been coming, and we are happy to join the International Solar Alliance, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the lead in making. We worked out the details and this is a process we are pleased to be a part of. This will be an important contribution to more rapid deployment of solar globally. It will be particularly important for developing countries," Kerry said in a statement.

PM Modi expressed gratitude on US joining ISA and said that it would "strengthen the Alliance in our shared quest of harnessing solar energy for a sustainable planet."

Union Cabinet Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav lauded the move by the US, which will "propel future action on providing a clean source of energy to the world."

Speaking on the occasion, Director General of ISA, Dr Ajay Mathur, called US' endorsement of ISA's framework to be a significant milestone. He said it demonstrates that nations across the world are recognizing the economic and climate mitigating value of solar.

"We are now even more committed to translating this confidence into tangible projects and developments on the ground, accelerating the momentum of solar adoption that has been built so far. We hope remaining nations and economies will follow suit, and align with us to achieve swift, affordable and effective climate action, while also achieving their respective economic growth and long-term development priorities," Dr Mathur said.

International Solar Alliance

The International Solar Alliance emphasises delivering global relevance and local benefit to all countries through collaborations. This collaboration has already yielded positive results. The ISA is building a solar project pipeline of nearly 5 GW installed capacity. On these lines, Green Grids Initiative (GGI), as part of the One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG) combining a massive increase in solar and wind power with international grids on every continent, connecting energy-rich locations such as sunny deserts and windy coastlines, was launched at the COP26 world leaders summit in Glasgow on November 2.

The project aims at harnessing solar energy from where the sun is shining to general electricity flows to areas that need it the most. The GGI-OSOWOG accelerates the construction of new infrastructure that is needed for a world powered by clean energy. This is achieved by the global coalition of national governments, international financial and technical organisations, legislators, power system operators and knowledge leader. The project when executed will reduce reliance on non-renewable energy such as coal by enabling them to purchase affordable solar power from other countries.

Earlier, the US joined the Steering Committee of the GGI-OSOWOG comprising of 5 members – USA, Australia, France, the United Kingdom, and India.