Cost-reduction will be a major boost to the use and expansion of Renewable Energy: PM Modi

• Globally India now ranks 4th in terms of Renewable Energy- PM Modi

• "India has scaled non-fossil fuel-based power generations to 134GW, which is about 35 % of India's total power generation"

• Confident of increasing Renewable Energy generation to 220 GW by 2022- PM Modi

New Delhi: "Technology holds the key to scale up the use of solar energy," said Pm Modi in a message at the inaugural session of First World Solar Technology Summit on Tuesday. "Technological achievements have already brought about a significant reduction in the price of solar power. A further reduction in the cost will provide a major boost to the use and expansion of renewable energy" he added. PM expressed confidence that the summit will help in help in developing new technologies and ensure that they become available to all. His message was read out by RK Singh, the President, International Solar Alliance (ISA) Assembly and Minister of State (I/C) for Power and New & Renewable Energy.

PM Modi re-iterated that five years ago, world leaders had taken a pledge to restrict the rise in global temperature through a gradual reduction in the dependence on fossil fuels. Underlining India's commitment lowering carbon footprints, he stressed that India has lowest per-capita carbon emissions in the world but we have still pressed ahead with deployment of renewable energy at a frenetic pace."

Speaking on the fast growth of Renewables in India, he further informed that India has enhanced its installed renewable capacity by 2.5 times and increased our solar installed capacity by more than 13 times. "Globally India now ranks 4th in terms of Renewable power," Modi said.

PM informed that India has scaled non-fossil fuel-based power generations to 134GW, which is about 35% of the country's total power generation. India is confident of increasing it to 220 GW by 2022. "We want to take renewable energy to every village of our country. Our government has implemented a scheme named KUSUM that aims to replace the use of diesel in our farm sector with solar energy. Under this scheme, we have targeted the solarisation of 2.8 million irrigation pumps. Such schemes will not only benefit the environment but also increase the income of our farmers." he said.

Also read: ONGC, IOC, BPCL, HPCL, GAIL to join ISA as corporate members, contribute to corpus fund: Pradhan

Referring to India's support to ISA member countries the Prime Minister said "India is providing capacity-building support to ISA member countries through its ITEC training programme. We have also set up a Project Preparation Facility to develop bankable Solar Energy projects in ISA member countries with the help of EXIM Bank of India." He said that in 2018, our Government had announced about $1.4 Billion worth of lines of credit (LOCs) for covering 27 solar projects across 15 countries. These projects are in various stages of implementation.

Modi also said, "The ISA is a part of "One World One Sun One Grid" project, I firmly believe that this project can bring transformational benefits for the entire humanity.

Ministers from several of ISA's member countries will be joined by high-Level dignitaries, National Focal Points and senior government functionaries; Representatives of diplomatic missions, ISA Partners, business and industry leaders, solar project developers, solar manufacturers, R&D institutions, academia and think tanks, civil society, international organizations and donors, representatives of non-governmental and community-based organizations, academics, research and training institutes, international media, multilateral and bilateral agencies.

Nobel Laureate, Dr M Stanley Whittingham, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (jointly with John B Goodenough & Akira Yoshino) in 2019 for the revolutionizing discovery of the lithium-ion batteries and Mr Bernard Piccard, Founder and Chairman of Solar Impulse Foundation, Switzerland also joined the summit virtually.

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is a treaty-based international intergovernmental organization. ISA was jointly launched by India and France in the presence of Secretary-General of the UN during CoP21. The Paris Declaration establishes ISA as an alliance dedicated to the promotion of solar energy among its Member Countries. The major objectives of the organization include the deployment of 1000 GW of solar capacity and mobilization of US$ 1000 billion of investment in the solar energy sector by 2030. As an action-oriented organization, ISA intends to bring together member countries to aggregate demand and realise economies of scale, resulting in the reduction of costs of solar applications, facilitating the deployment of existing solar technologies at scale, and promoting collaborative solar R&D and capacity. As on June 26 2020, the ISA Framework Agreement has been signed by 86 countries, with 68 having also deposited instruments of ratification. The ISA is headquartered at Gurugram in Haryana, India. Upendra Tripathy is the Director-General.

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