The International Solar Alliance (ISA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the World Bank to design a plan for implementing ‘One Solar One World and One Grid’ (OSOWOG). ISA also signed an MoU with NTPC for implementing solar energy projects in 47 member countries of ISA. Currently, 121 countries have agreed to be members of ISA. Most of these are with a large participation from Africa, Southeast Asia and Europe. Pakistan and China are not members of ISA. The alliance is headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana. ISA is the first inter-governmental organisation headquartered in India. The country is providing capacity building support to ISA member countries.
It has also set up a project management agency to help set up bankable solar projects in the ISA member countries. ISA is a part of the OSOWOG project which can bring transformational benefit for the entire world. According to the draft plan prepared by MNRE, OSOWOG will connect 140 countries through a common grid which will be used to transfer solar power. ISA will execute the bidding for OSOWOG plan. The vision behind OSOWOG is ‘The Sun Never Sets’. With India at the fulcrum, the solar spectrum can easily be divided into two broad zones — the Far East which would include countries like Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, etc, and the far West which will cover the Middle East and the Africa region. The MoU will help NTPC share its technical and project management expertise with the ISA member countries. It has built 285 MW and 500 MW solar projects in Togo and Mali.