Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines, Government of India and Ms. Ségolène Royal, Minister for Environment, Energy and Marine Affairs Government of France jointly decided to appoint Mr. Upendra Tripathy, as the Interim Director General (IDG) of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) on a full time basis. 

Mr. Upendra Tripathy was the Former Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy from 1st April, 2014 until 31st October 2016. Mr. Tripathy is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Karnataka Cadre. He has worked with local, provincial and union governments in India for the last 36 years. 

Background on International Solar Alliance (ISA) 

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) was launched on 30th November, 2015 as a coalition of the solar resource rich countries jointly by Shri. Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and Mr.François Hollande, Hon’ble President of France in the presence of Mr. Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations on the first day of the Paris Climate Conference or CoP21. ISA’s mission and vision is to provide a dedicated platform for cooperation among solar resource rich countries where the global community including bilateral and multilateral organizations, corporates, industry, and stakeholders can make a positive contribution to assist and help achieve the common goals of increasing use of the solar energy in meeting energy needs of prospective ISA member countries in a safe, convenient, affordable, equitable and sustainable manner. On 25 January 2016, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi, and the Hon’ble French President François Hollande jointly laid the foundation stone of the ISA headquarters and inaugurated the Interim Secretariat of the ISA at the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) in Gwalpahari, Gurugram. The Government of the Republic of India shall contribute US$ 27 million to the ISA for creating corpus, building infrastructure and recurring expenditure over 5 year duration. 

RM/PS  

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