On 30th November 2015, two momentous things happened. It was day one of COP21. A record number of heads of states and governments gathered in Paris to guide and mandate their negotiators to leave no stone unturned to finalize the new compact for climate action. Two weeks later, the Paris agreement was concluded with a resolve to restrict the rise in global temperature to two degrees Celsius by the turn of the century and strive towards achieving the ambitious but desirable target of 1.5 degrees Celsius. It is a goal that becomes elusive and assumes greater urgency with each passing day. The sunny side is not yet up.
The other thing was the birth of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), a coming together of countries between the tropics, to draw attention to the need to harness solar energy in an effort to decarbonize the energy sector, which has been the highest contributor to carbon emissions historically.
Nine years later as countries grapple with the pending issues affecting climate action in preparation for COP29, the ISA is ready to celebrate its First International Solar Festival on September 5 to 6 in New Delhi. India, along with France, was one of the founders of this Alliance launched at the UN Climate Change Conference by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and the then French President Francois Hollande. President Barack Obama was present at the launch event, which I too had the privilege to attend as India’s secretary for environment, forest and climate change.
ISA is the first international intergovernmental organisation to be headquartered in India.
The horizon of the ISA has since widened with the amendment of its Framework Agreement making all member states of the United Nations eligible to join the ISA. In total, 119 countries have signed the agreement, of which 100 have ratified and become full members. It aims to mobilise investments in solar energy solutions while delivering energy access to millions of people using clean energy solutions and enabling solar energy capacity worldwide, which would help mitigate global emissions. To meet these goals, the ISA takes a programmatic approach for which it has nine comprehensive programmes, each focusing on a specific application that could help scale the deployment of solar energy solutions.
As a platform for international cooperation, the ISA assists member countries in easing solar deployment through policy advice, standardization and investment mobilization. With innovative business models and policy advisory, the ISA promotes affordable solar solutions and facilitates access to solar training and data, particularly in least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (Sids).
The rapid growth of solar power in recent years has been one of the most remarkable stories of global energy. More new solar capacity was added in 2022 than all other energy sources for electricity combined. Global energy generation from solar photovoltaic (PV) panels rose by 270 terawatt hours, an annual increase of 26%. The amount of renewable energy capacity added around the world grew by 50% in 2023, reaching almost 510 gigawatts (GW), with solar PV accounting for three-quarters of additions worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA)’s annual report on the sector.
While the largest growth took place in China, the increases in renewable energy capacity in India, Europe, the United States and Brazil was also a record high. Electricity generation in solar energy market is projected to amount to 1.30 trillion kilowatt hours in 2024 and the annual growth rate between 2024 and 2029 is expected to be 7.31%.
Under business-as-usual scenario, global renewable power capacity is expected to grow to 7300 GW over the 2023-28 period with solar PV and wind accounting for 95% of the expansion. The growing efficiency of PV panels that rose from 6% in the 1950s to 24.5%, the falling cost of solar panels, government policy, subsidies, market incentives, feed-in tariffs for electricity sold to the grid have driven the solar capacity expansion by stimulating investment.
In these transformative times, the ISA’s inaugural international festival is a unique initiative to promote solar energy adoption and facilitate the transition to a low-carbon future, especially aiming to unite youth, communities, private sector, and leaders for a concerted solar energy transition. The festival provides a vibrant platform for knowledge sharing, innovation and international cooperation in solar initiatives, emphasizing youth engagement and partnerships. It seeks to achieve the much-needed alignment among policymakers, business leaders and financial institutions towards supporting solar energy.
Making claims from rooftops will not be enough. Challenges and opportunities for women, the role of entrepreneurship and private sector engagement in the solar sector need to be better understood. For solar energy to enter households, it will need new generation solar advocates and young leaders by promoting youth-led innovation. The festival will feature solar-powered communities sharing local initiatives and best practices for gender inclusivity in the solar energy sector.
The Barefoot College of Women Engineers working in rural areas of India is a good example. Started in a village of Rajasthan by a non-governmental organization (NGO), the college has trained women in India and Africa. By training rural women in putting together solar panels, they created local capacity for elementary engineering, installation, maintenance and repairs.
I recall about 20 years ago, an NGO carried out a unique experiment at the Eliot Beach in Chennai in the southern state of Tamil Nadu in India. It evolved a successful way of involving the community in shaping energy transition with sensible support. The NGO purchased hundreds of solar lamps and gave them to the beachside vendors who traditionally used kerosene lamps in the evenings. The NGO would collect the solar lamps back from the vendors late at night, charge them during the day and return them in the evening when the vendors came to the beach. For rendering this service, the NGO charged a rental equal to the cost of kerosene that the vendors used earlier. It was a win-win situation for all stakeholders. No one lost any money; it was the NGO that took the plunge to make the initial investment in buying the solar lamps but was able to create a financially viable model for doing business in a sustainable way. There is a need to replicate such community-based models, which the festival aims to highlight along with cutting-edge solar technology.
Over the years, through its critical capacity-building initiative, Solar Technology and Application Resource Centres (STAR-C), the ISA has provided tailored capacity-building support adapted to the local context. The ISA’s programmes have focussed on setting up sustainable solar projects in countries most impacted by climate change. It has helped aggregate demand for scalable solar solutions and facilitated access to funding with risk mitigation mechanisms. The ISA has engaged with member countries to make their energy legislation and policies solar-friendly through Ease of Doing Solar analytics and advisory. It helped pool demand for solar technology from different countries for driving down costs and improved access to finance by partnering with multilateral development banks, development financial institutions, private and public sector organizations, civil society and other international institutions to deploy cost-effective and transformational solutions through solar energy, especially in the LDCs and Sids. It has extended regulatory support to member countries through regulatory assessments and products, and regulator exchange programmes in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Chad, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Grenada, Guyana, Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Uganda. Recently, the ISA set up its Global Solar Facility with the aim of catalyzing solar investments in the underserved segments and geographies of Africa with a promised Indian contribution of US$25 million and a commitment of US$2 million each from Bloomberg and Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.
With all these initiatives, challenges remain. According to IEA, even though solar is the third largest renewable electricity technology behind hydropower and wind, its share in total electricity generated in the world in 2022 was a mere 4.5%, and its capacity needs to increase 20% annually until 2030 if net-zero targets are to be met. The intermittent nature of solar power requires a reliable back-up power source to maintain a consistent energy supply. Innovations, such as smart grids, storage and transmission infrastructure, require massive investment, including in research and development. Moreover, PV panels contain hazardous materials that will require careful end-of-life management. The IEA warns that defunct solar panels could create up to 78 million tonnes of waste by 2050 if not recycled.
Hopefully, the International Solar Festival that is set to become an annual feature will evolve its themes each year to reflect such pressing global issues. Solar energy needs to be integrated into the social consciousness and its adoption accelerated across diverse sectors, from individual households to large businesses and communities.
Unlike Icarus in the past, mankind will have to come closer to the sun so that the million-watt bulb can effectively light up the earth and enable it to attain energy salvation.
Ashok Lavasa is a former finance secretary of India and vice-president of private sector and public-private partnership at the Asian Development Bank.
