International Solar Alliance comes into force, Oz joins

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 6

Ahead of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) summit in India in early 2018, Australia has joined the alliance as it officially came into force on Wednesday.

A statement issued by Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop said: “Australia’s expertise in solar technologies and research will be shared globally with the formal creation of the International Solar Alliance today. Australia is a world leader in the sector, with significant expertise in remote electrification and vital supporting technologies such as batteries and pumped hydro storage”.

Australia has the highest per capita rate in the world in this sector with rooftop solar panels in nearly 17 per cent of Australian households.

The alliance led by India and France aims to promote the roll out of solar technology and solar energy uptake amongst countries that lie in the sun-rich belt between the tropics. The international inter-governmental body has 18 founding members with its headquarters at the National Institute of Solar Energy in India.French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to time his maiden official bilateral visit to India with the inaugural summit event next year. 

Over one billion people have no access to electricity and the ISA hopes to provide alternate clean energy access for developing countries to meet their growing needs. At a time when Donald Trump has pulled the United States out of the Climate Change Agreement, the ISA is a commitment of members to clean energy cooperation to help meet the Paris Agreement emissions targets.