The first-ever international solar festival is being held in the national capital New Delhi, hosted by ISA (International Solar Alliance). This festival is a call to action for a sustainable future powered by solar energy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually addressed the opening of the festival, referring to the significance of the sun and its power as described in the ancient Vedas. He said, “ The Vedas text is composed thousands of years ago, yet one of the most popular mantras is about the sun. Even today millions of Indians chant it daily. Many cultures across the world have respected the sun their own way and have festivals around it.”
He further said that this festival brings the whole world together on one stage to celebrate the sun’s impact and help build a better planet. Talking about the ISA, PM Modi said it was started in 2015 as a small sapling, with a moment of hope and aspiration and today it is growing as a giant tree inspiring policy and action with a membership of 100 countries.
PM gives the vision of “ONE WORLD, ONE SUN, ONE GRID”. He added India’s initiatives for green energy implication saying that India is the first G20 nation who achieve the Paris Commitment in renewable energy with remarkable growth in solar energy.
In addition to that PM said in the last 10 years India has achieved massive growth in the solar sector and that we are certainly going to achieve 500GW non-fossil capacity by 2030. He emphasizes increasing solar adoption through “Awareness, Availability, and Affordability”.
Talking about the “3 As” Modi said the government of India is increasing the availability of solar panels through domestic manufacturing and making it affordable through many schemes and incentives. He said the government is investing ₹750 billion in “PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijali Yojana” targeting 10 million households to install their own rooftop solar panel and transferring the finances directly to the people’s bank account.
PM Modi further said ISA helped 44 countries in assisting and developing nearly 10GW of electricity and also working towards bringing down the global prices of solar pumps. He also mentioned that several solar startups are being encouraged from Africa, Asia Pacific, and India and planning to expand it to Latin America and the Caribbean.
At the end of his speech, he said “The imbalance and distraction of green energy investment need to be addressed and manufacturing and technology need to be democratized to help the developing countries.” He focuses on empowering the least developing countries and island-developing states.
Being already led the creation of the Global Biofuels Alliance and the founding member of ISA India is always committed to building an inclusive and green planet.
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