India’s power minister and president of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Assembly, RK Singh on Sunday called for creating an international credit guarantee fund and providing low-cost finance to companies that want to go and invest in solar development in developing and under-developed countries, including Africa. He said investors need security, and there is a need to put in mechanisms to drive investments to ensure that the growth in these regions is green. The minister also pitched for the creation of renewable energy banks.
The minister said that the cost of technologies like storage is among other challenges to driving energy transition in developing countries, adding that building scales is important to bring down prices. Nations also need to share their best technologies to make systems like fuel cells more efficient.
The minister, along with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, was addressing a panel discussion during their visit to the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Secretariat in Gurugram, Haryana. The panel discussion was attended by Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi, Secretary-Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India; ambassadors of EU member countries of ISA; and industry representatives.
The minister highlighted India’s success in building RE capacity through the bidding route.
In her keynote address, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said, “India and the European Union are closely aligned in the fight against climate change. Both India and the EU have embarked on their way to net-zero emissions. And in both India and Europe, solar energy will play a key role in getting there. Now, we need to step up EU-India cooperation in developing solar energy. We can learn how to finance, promote, and deploy solar energy and secure global supply chains and material needed for solar panels.”
MNRE Secretary stated that the global community is reposing increasing faith in International Solar Alliance as a critical instrument in the fight against climate change. He added that the visit of the EC President to ISA headquarters would lead to a renewed commitment from countries across the world to strengthen ISA’s efforts.
Industry leaders who were present included CEOs of the Clean Energy International Incubation Centre, EDF-India, Greenko, Reliance, Renew Power, Schneider Electric, Tata Power, and Vikram Solar. They shared their thoughts on key issues related to solar energy development.
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