International Solar Alliance: France commits €300 mn for solar energy

The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, and the President of France François Hollande, on Monday jointly laid the foundation stone of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Headquarters and inaugurated the interim Secretariat of the ISA in National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), Gwalpahari, Gurgaon.

The Alliance has France’s full support. The France President announced that the French Development Agency will allocate €300 million to developing solar energy over the next five years in order to finance the initial projects.

Government of India has dedicated 5 acre land in NISE campus for the ISA Headquarters and also has contributed Rs 175 crore for ISA corpus fund and also for meeting expenditure for initial five years.

ISA is part of Prime Minister’s vision to bring clean and affordable energy within the reach of all and create a sustainable world. It will be a new beginning for accelerating development and deployment of solar energy for achieving universal energy access and energy security of the present and future generations.

Speaking on the occasion, Modi stated that ISA will be India’s first international and inter-governmental organization headquartered in India.ISA will be dedicated to promotion of solar energy for making solar energy a valuable source of affordable and reliable green and clean energy in 121 member countries. He thanked the President of France for his continued help and support in shaping ISA.

Appreciating India, President of France, Francois Hollande said that at Paris Conference, India showed that it was ready to fully commit to energy transition and the fight against climate change. Thanks to India’s commitment, we were able to secure an ambitious, fair and dynamic agreement in Paris, which is binding for all of humanity, Hollande added.

He also said that India’s role will be just as essential in implementing the Paris Agreement and the commitments which have been made. He reaffirmed his commitment by saying that France want to build the post-Paris Agreement world with India and ISA paves the way for this. He stressed on the fact that contributing to the success of the Alliance also means launching French-Indian projects.