GK: Understanding International Solar Alliance (IR/ECO/ECOLOGY)

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is an alliance of more than 121 countries, most of them being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

The primary objective of the alliance is to work for efficient exploitation of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

This initiative was first proposed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a speech in November 2015 at Wembley Stadium, in which he referred to sunshine countries as Suryaputra ("Sons of the Sun").

The alliance is a treaty-based inter-governmental organization. Countries that do not fall within the Tropics can join the alliance and enjoy all benefits as other members, with the exception of voting rights.

The initiative was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the India Africa Summit, and a meeting of member countries ahead of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in November 2015.

Framework agreement of the International Solar Alliance opened for signatures in Marrakech, Morocco in November 2016, and 121 countries have joined.

The alliance is also called International Agency for Solar Policy and Application (IASPA).

It is to be headquartered in India (1^st international secretariat to be HQ in India). In January 2016, Narendra Modi, and the French President François Hollande jointly laid the foundation stone of the ISA Headquarters and inaugurated the interim Secretariat at the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) in Gwalpahari, Gurugram, India. The Indian government has dedicated five acres of land on the NISE campus for it's future headquarters; it also has contributed ₹1.75 billion (US$27 million) to the fund to build a campus and for meeting expenditures for the first five years.

The alliance has partnered with World Bank to launch Global Solar Atlas at an ISA event at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. Global Solar Atlas is a free online tool that displays annual average solar power potential at any location in the world and thus identify potential sites for solar power generation.

On June 30, 2016, the alliance entered into an understanding with the World Bank for accelerating mobilization of finance for solar energy. The Bank will have a major role in mobilizing more than US $1000 billion in investments that will be needed by 2030, to meet ISA’s goals for the massive deployment of affordable solar energy.

Till date 48 countries have signed and 19 countries have ratified the Framework Agreement of the ISA. With ratifications by 15 countries, the ISA will become a treaty based inter-governmental international organisation and it will be recognize by UN legally to become fully functionable.

At the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) held in Abu Dhabi on January 2018, the government of India announced the setting up of a $350 million solar development fund to enable financing of solar projects.

Geographical Points: The area of Earth located in between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn is called the tropical (torrid) zone. The points on the Tropic of Cancer are the northernmost points up to which the Sun can pass directly overhead. Similarly, the southernmost points are on the Tropic of Capricorn which follow the same criteria. Location at the north of the Tropic of Cancer shows the Sun appearing at the south of the zenith. The sunniest countries of the world are on the African continent, ranging from Somalia- Horn of Africa-, east to Niger, west and north to Egypt.