ISA and India sign the Host Country Agreement

• The International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), have signed the Host Country Agreement.
• The Agreement will give ISA a juridical personality and gives it power to contract, to acquire and dispose off movable and immovable properties, to institute and defend legal proceedings.
• Under this agreement, ISA shall enjoy such privileges, applicable tax concessions and immunities as are necessary for ISA’s Headquarter to independently discharge its function and programmes.
• ISA shall be deriving its status, privileges and immunities as per Article 10 of Framework Agreement.

About ISA:

• India’s prime minister has launched an international solar alliance of over 120 countries with the French president, François Hollande, at the Paris COP 21 climate summit.
• It is an invitation to 121 countries lying between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, which get the most solar insolation, to make collaborative efforts to harness solar energy to generate electricity. Most of these countries are in Asia, Africa and South America, and many of them are power deficient.
• By coming together to install solar power plants, these countries can drive up the demand for solar technologies manifold, in the process forcing down prices even more. Currently, the growth of solar installed capacity has been coming from very few countries.
• This alliance can bing standardization to manufacturing processes and solar technologies. If every country starts using similar products and processes, costs of manufacturing elements of solar technologies can fall substantially.
• A keenly awaited technology breakthrough is in the area of storage systems. There is currently no way to store the electricity being produced by solar systems, because of which the sun is not the most reliable energy source on many days.
• India will provide money and infrastructure to this alliance. India has committed itself to providing Rs 400 crore over the next five years to building infrastructure and meeting recurring costs. A secretariat is being set up in New Delhi. Till a building is constructed, the secretariat will function from the Delhi-based National Institute of Solar Energy. India is leading world from the front by launching various initiatives regarding solar energy. India has a capacity of 4 GW and has set a target of adding 100 GW of solar power by 2022.

By: Vishal