United Nations grants observer status to International Solar Alliance 

United Nations grants observer status to International Solar Alliance 

Part of: Prelims, Mains GS-II: Global Groupings & GS-III – Energy

In News: United Nations granted Observer status to International Solar Alliance. 

• This is going to give impetus to “ One Sun One world one grid “
• This will help in bringing equitable energy solutions to the world.
• Help towards achieving the goal of net-zero carbon emissions through global co-operations.

What is ISA?

• The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is an alliance of 121 countries initiated by India, 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 consumption of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
• 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 Paris Climate Summit, and a meeting of member countries ahead of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in November 2015.
• The framework agreement of the International Solar Alliance opened for signatures in Marrakech, Morocco in November 2016, and 200 countries have joined.
• The ISA is headquartered in Gurugram.
• The focus is on solar power utilization. The launching of such an alliance in Paris also sends a strong signal to the global communities about the sincerity of the developing nations towards their concern about climate change and to switch to a low-carbon growth path.

‘One Sun One World One Grid’ (OSOWOG) initiative proposed by India 

• Proposed by India to set up a framework for facilitating global cooperation which aims at building a global ecosystem of interconnected renewable energy resources that can be easily shared
• Envisions building and scaling inter-regional energy grids to share solar energy across the globe, leveraging the differences of time zones, seasons, resources, and prices between countries and regions
• Help decarbonise energy production, which is today the largest source of global greenhouse gas emissions. 
• With India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the World Bank and the ISA signing a tripartite agreement on OSOWOG, the initiative could be the world’s most important renewables catalyst. It can unlock unprecedented economies of scale in energy generation and transmission. 
• Rigorous assessments and modelling have confirmed the initiative’s technical and economic viability, building a strong business case. 
• Its commercial feasibility has been further augmented by multilateral development banks such as World Bank, which are helping create markets by driving down costs of solar power.

News Source: PIB