{"id":20016861,"date":"2015-12-03T11:23:28","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T05:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thethirdpole.net\/?p=16861"},"modified":"2021-01-05T01:52:57","modified_gmt":"2021-01-04T20:22:57","slug":"india-hits-back-at-critics-with-solar-alliance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/india-hits-back-at-critics-with-solar-alliance\/","title":{"rendered":"India hits back at critics with solar alliance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Calling it \u201cthe sunrise of new hope, not just for clean energy but for villages and homes still in darkness\u201d, India\u2019s Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a global alliance to expand solar power in tropical countries.\u00a0 The launch \u2013 in the presence of French President Francois Hollande on the first day of the Paris climate summit \u2013 was aimed at answering critics of India\u2019s position during negotiations for a Paris deal.<\/p>\n<p>Rich nations are unhappy with India\u2019s insistence on maintaining differentiation between developed and developing countries under the <a href=\"http:\/\/unfccc.int\/2860.php\">UN Framework Convention on Climate Change<\/a>. India has also been leading the countries seeking a clear roadmap to the USD 100 billion per year promised by rich nations by 2020. In the opening days of the Paris summit, this unhappiness has been expressed largely through NGO and media networks. The main point of criticism has been about India\u2019s plan to continue using coal for power generation.<\/p>\n<p>Anticipating this, the Indian government had decided to make a big splash with the launch of the International Solar Alliance (ISA). Details of what the alliance will do have not been worked out yet. Modi told journalists at the launch, \u201cThe dream of universal access to clean energy is becoming more real. This will be the foundation of the new economy of the new century.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Over 120 countries, mostly those between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, are members of the new alliance, which aims to push solar power generation. India already has a plan to produce 100 GW of electricity through solar energy by 2022, making it the world\u2019s largest programme of its kind.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mnre.gov.in\/file-manager\/UserFiles\/ISA-Working-Paper.pdf\">The working paper on ISA by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy<\/a> (MNRE) says, \u201cThe overarching objective is to create a collaborative platform for increased deployment of solar energy technologies to enhance energy security and sustainable development; improve access to energy and opportunities for better livelihoods in rural and remote areas and to increase the standard of living.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The paper says that currently \u201cthere is no specific body in place to address the specific solar technology deployment needs of the solar resource rich countries located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. Most of these countries are geographically located for optimal absorption of the sun\u2019s rays. There is a great amount of sunlight year-round which can lead to cost effective solar power and other end uses with high insolation of almost 300 sunny days in a year. Most of the countries have large agrarian populations. Many countries face gaps in the potential solar energy manufacturing eco-system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Enthusiastic welcome<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Indian climate activists and experts have welcomed the move. Srinivas Krishnaswamy, founder of the New Delhi-based think tank Vasudha Foundation, told <a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/\">thethirdpole.net<\/a>, \u201cIndia&#8217;s proposal to create the International Agency for Solar Technologies and Application (INSTA) is extremely promising and meets the need of\u00a0the hour. The solar club\u00a0takes forward the ambitious renewable energy targets which India has set for itself. It is my belief that INSTA can foster technology development that will ensure a faster scale up of solar systems in various economies, particularly promoting improvement in storage technologies. It will ensure that the energy access and energy scarcity situation \u2013 which India and a number of developing countries are grappling with \u2013 is being addressed on a war footing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Krishnaswamy thought India\u2019s announcement could potentially help reach a strong agreement in Paris to combat climate change.<\/p>\n<p>Krishna Pallassana, Executive Director-India of The Climate group told <a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/\">thethirdpole.net<\/a>, \u201cI think it is a fabulous move simply because it makes a lot of sense for those countries who are developing and are underdeveloped.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pallassana thought the launch of the solar alliance would help push investments to the solar energy generation sector.<\/p>\n<p><strong>No detail yet<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Two days after the launch, Indian officials still do not know the details of what the alliance will do. There has been a first round of consultations, with delegates from 22 countries. Their recommendations are still being considered.<\/p>\n<p>Ajay Mathur, spokesperson of the Indian delegation at the summit, told <a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/\">thethirdpole.net<\/a>, \u201cThis is an alliance and every country which is a part of this is an equal partner. What we have started off with is a meeting of steering committee. This is a self-selected group of countries, who have provided strong views on what the alliance should do, what its activities should be, and its goals. The alliance will be developed on the basis of that framework, and that will be discussed at the next meeting of the steering committee, which has been scheduled in Abu Dhabi.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India launched the International Solar Alliance on the first day of COP21 as an answer to criticisms of its energy policies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2194,"featured_media":20016862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[761,757],"tags":[585,593],"hashtags":[],"country":[50040730,20000111],"class_list":["post-20016861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate","category-energy","tag-renewables","tag-solar","country-france","country-india"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v26.0) - 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