New Delhi: Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday, International Solar Alliance (ISA) Director General Ashish Khanna said the West Asia crisis has shown that all 130 ISA member countries are seeing solar and storage “not only for climate change, but as part of their energy sovereignty and energy security, because nobody takes the sun away.”
For small island nations, the case rests on cost. They pay as much as Rs 30 a unit for electricity because they run on diesel and oil, Khanna said. Most of them now want to scale up solar and storage.
The press conference followed the ninth session of the ISA Assembly, held during the Bharat Renewable Energy Summit and Expo 2026. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the summit on November 2, and it runs until November 5.
Khanna was asked how small nations could cope with the price rise that followed the West Asia crisis. “This is something that most countries are really grappling with,” he said. There was a fiscal dimension to the cost, he said, but the more important dimension was the tariff.
Khanna said he had visited Fiji and Papua New Guinea two months ago, and Mauritius before that. “The average utility tariff there is almost Rs 30, Rs 25 to Rs 30 because of the price of diesel and oil,” the ISA D-G said.
Solar and storage cost as little as Rs 3 to Rs 4 a unit in India, he said. In the islands, the same could come to about Rs 10. That would still be a third of what these countries spend now. “So that is why most of these countries are much more interested in scaling up solar and storage,” he said.
Small island countries still draw 80 to 85 percent of their energy from diesel and fuel oil, Khanna said. That bill often comes to 15 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP), which he said was twice what they spend on health and education. “So you can imagine how high it is,” he said.
ISA has started bringing these countries together on solar and storage. Their first tender, in Mauritius, was for 220 megawatt (MW) of solar and storage. Khanna said it “was successfully tendered to private sector.” He put its value at almost half a billion dollars, and said ISA would work with its partners on future projects.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said in a statement that ISA was advancing aggregated solar and storage opportunities, beginning with Mauritius. The aim, it said, was to create scalable models for Small Island Developing States. Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi also pointed to ISA-supported projects in Fiji, Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles. These powered healthcare facilities and schools, provided clean drinking water and supported agricultural cold storage, the ministry said.
India was elected ISA president for a third consecutive term, according to the MNRE statement. France was re-elected as co-president. Joshi thanked member countries for electing India and congratulated France on its re-election. As India begins its new term, he said, the focus will remain on mobilising investment and accelerating deployment.
“I’m very glad to tell you that France has been re-elected as co-president of the ISA Assembly,” said Mathieu Lefèvre, France’s Minister for Ecological Transition, Biodiversity, and International Negotiations on Climate and Nature, at the press conference. The two countries launched ISA in Paris at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) in 2015. “France has been a committed member of ISA since its inception and will remain so,” Lefèvre said.
ISA has initiated a USD 200 million Africa Solar Facility with partners including the World Bank, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority and Africa50, he said. The facility is meant to help the private sector make long-term investments in decentralised solar, such as rooftop solar, mini-grids and agrivoltaics (agri-PV).
It has also drawn in a USD 300 million Nigeria Distributed Renewable Energy Fund. “So this USD 500 million, which is almost 5,000 crores, is a testimony of how ISA is galvanising international effort and financing,” Khanna said.
The MNRE statement cited India’s commitment of around Rs 225 crore (USD 25 million) to make affordable solar energy accessible to underserved communities. France contributed EUR 150,000 to the Africa Solar Facility in 2025, Lefèvre said. “And I’m also pleased to announce a voluntary contribution of €50,000 to ISA for 2026,” he said.
ISA also launched the first phase of a global capability centre on Tuesday. The MNRE statement named it SHINE, the Strategic Hub for Innovation and Execution. It will focus on grid digitisation, “as done by a lot of Indian startups at a fraction of a cost,” Khanna said. Its other areas are energy planning, so that projects can be financed by the private sector, and an AI-enabled learning tool called ISA Academy.
The centre will work with 17 centres of excellence already operating in 17 member countries, Khanna said. The MNRE statement listed 17 Solar Technology Application Resource Centres (STAR-C) among ISA’s capability-building efforts. France has contributed EUR 1.25 million to the STAR-C programme since 2021, Lefèvre said.
Khanna said he met a farmer in Uganda in May, 120 km outside Kampala, whose income had doubled because of a solar pump. African governments now want to tailor a programme like India’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) to their own conditions, he said. “So you need a policy, you need some local manufacturing, and you need a good credit mechanism by the banks,” he said.
Seven countries signed a declaration in July and August to come together on a programme of one million solar pumps for Africa, Khanna said. ISA is facilitating the effort. Weighing on the same, Joshi said PM-KUSUM showed how solar-powered agriculture could cut irrigation costs and create additional income. Through ISA, he said, the model is being adapted across member countries, particularly in Africa.
At home, Joshi said the first phase of PM-KUSUM was complete. It covered “nearly about 3 million farmers, around 30 lakh pumps,” whether grid-connected or standalone, he said. “And we are expecting very soon PM Kusum 2, which will again further enlarge,” Joshi said. “I am quite hopeful that it will be more farmer-friendly than before.”
He was asked about concerns the Union Agriculture Ministry had raised on land use and crop feasibility. The matter is under discussion and will be finalised very soon, Joshi said. “And we will try to address problems raised by Agricultural Ministry and other ministry also,” he said.
On the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana rooftop solar scheme, Joshi said 1 lakh installations were being completed every six days. In two-to-three weeks, he expected that to come down to four or five days. The scheme targets one crore households by March 2027. “We will complete it by March 31st. That is my confidence. Little here or there, not much, little here or there,” Joshi said.
Looking ahead, Khanna said the world is now adding 1,000 gigawatt (GW) of solar every two years. It has already installed 3,000 GW, he said, against the 1,000 GW target Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set for the world. “Perhaps over the next 5 years, the world will be ready to do 6,000 gigawatts or 6 terawatts,” he said.
ISA’s strategy for the next five years is being finalised and covers all 130 member countries, Khanna said. He said a copy would be shared. ISA is also releasing eight global analytical products during the assembly. These range from an India storage action strategy to a study on the ease of doing solar across 127 countries, which Modi launched on Monday.
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