Solar body will replace OPEC as energy supplier: PM Narendra Modi

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) could replace Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as the key energy supplier in the future, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the first ISA assembly on Tuesday, adding "solar energy could be the oil of the future". PM Modi pitched for a — One World, One Sun, One Grid — mission and said that the ISA should not be restricted only to countries falling between the tropics and will soon also seek to have other countries as members.

ISA's first assembly saw United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in attendance along with Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy, Raj Kumar Singh. The ISA is a collaboration of 121 solar resource-rich countries located between tropics and endeavours for technology transfer and financial co-operation. Out of 61 countries who have joined the alliance, 32 have signed and ratified the ISA framework in March this year.

"Coming times are filled with opportunity, especially for climate justice. We need to think in new ways with a new energy and ISA will provide that platform," PM Modi said.

"Within three years, ISA has become a treaty-based, inter-governmental organisation. Meanwhile, 125 crore Indians are happy that ISA is headquartered in India. In future, when people talk of organisations established for the welfare of mankind in the 21st century, the ISA will be at the top of the list," the PM added.

The Prime Minister stressed on India's commitments under the Paris agreement and said that India has doubled its renewable energy capacity in the past four years and of the total energy produced, 20 per cent is from non-hydro power. "This indicates that we are on track to meet our renewable energy demands."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the world needed more ambition and action to limit global warming to below 2 degrees at pre-industrial levels and commended India and France for the ISA. "Climate change is not only a direct threat to inclusive and sustainable development but also an existential threat. The latest data shows that current commitments under Paris fall short to limit temperature rise below 2 degrees. I commend government of India's ambitious targets in renewable energy."