Shri R.K. Singh,President of the ISA Assembly and Union Minister of State for Power and New & Renewable Energy (IC) and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, today shared details of the First World Solar Technology Summit being organized by ISA on a virtual platform on September 08, 2020. The objective of the event is to bring the spotlight on state-of-the-art technologies as well as next-generation technologies which will provide impetus to the efforts towards harnessing the solar energy more efficiently. ISA would also be launching the ISA Journal on Solar Energy (I JOSE)that would help authors from across the globe to publish their articles on solar energy, during the event. The articles in this journal would be reviewed by global experts and will reach the Member countries through ISA’s vast network of NFPs (National Focal points) and STAR  (Solar Technology and Application Resource centers) centers.

The Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi will deliver the inaugural address of the First World Solar Technology Summitto be graced by Ministers from member countries from across all ISA regions. High level dignitaries from the world of Scientific Research and Development and a CEO’s conclave will set the tone of the deliberations on low cost, innovative and affordable solar technologies.  Senior Government Functionaries, Heads of Global Corporations, Financial & Multilateral Institutions, Civil society, Foundations and Think-Tanks will be present during the inaugural session. 

Nobel Laureate Dr. M. Stanley Whittingham will be presenting the Keynote Address during the Inaugural Ceremony. Dr. M. Stanley Whittingham was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (jointly with John B Goodenough & Akira Yoshino) in 2019 for the revolutionizing discovery of the lithium ion batteries. A power packed session is to follow with CEOs of top global corporations who have made pathbreaking progress in implementing and scaling up solar technologies. CEOs expected to take part in the Global CEOs session are: Mr Bertrand Piccard FRSGS, Founder and Chairman, Solar Impulse Foundation, Switzerland; Mr. Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Chairman & CEO, Schneider Electric; Mr. Eric Rondolat, Chief Executive Officer, Signify. The distinguished corporate leaders will share their journeys and will share their vision on how scientific breakthroughs and innovations can be commercially made available to all parts of the world for the wider consumption. 

The event will hold four technical sessions that would be available to the participants in different languages namely English, Spanish, French & Arabic. Leading companies and research organisations from across the world will present their work during these sessions and will deliberate on latest trends in solar technologies.

Session -1: Vision 2030 & Beyond: The overall context of PV technology development and its future, on its way towards becoming the first source of energy worldwide, with PV technologies supplying 70% of the world’s electricity generation.

Session -2: Towards a Decarbonised Grid: The most recent advances (conversion efficiency improvements and declining costs) regarding key components such as PV modules and storage technologies.

Session -3: Disruptive Solar Technologies: On-grid applications, whether ground-mounted, floating, or integrated in residential and commercial rooftops.

Session -4: Solar Beyond the Power Sector: Innovative applications where PV is used to move, heat, cool, and drive eco-friendly industrial processes and produce fuels as well as off-grid applications, to provide universal access to energy.

Delivering the keynote address at the Curtain Raiser, Union Minister of State for Power and New & Renewable Energy (IC) and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and President, ISA Assembly, Shri RK Singh congratulated ISA for conceptualizing the first ever World Solar Technology Summit. The event will help serve the objective and drive the necessary growth of solar energy around the world through innovations. At this crucial junction, when the world is striving to fight the corona pandemic, our collective efforts will help face this challenge and also towards achieving the objective of universal electricity access to all. Shri Singh invited all stakeholders to participate in the conference.                                                                          

 Ms. Dana Purcarescu,Chargée d’ affaires, Embassy of France in India, congratulated ISA in its efforts and stated that having a decarbonised world is a dream we all aspire for and solar will have a lead role to play in realising it. The First World Solar Technology Summit will help identify technologies that can ramp up solar deployment at an affordable cost. I wish best to ISA and hope for best outcomes.”

In his address, DG, ISA, Shri Upendra Tripathy said that the role of technology has drastically changed over the past few years and will continue to change as people look towards technology for solutions more than ever before. Further, mutual co-operation among the member countries has been the pillar of the solar PV revolution. ISA must fulfill the dream of lighting every home no matter how far away by bringing the innovative and affordable technologies to forefront. World Solar Technology Summit is a stepping stone in that direction.

The ISA, an action-oriented organization, aims at lowering the cost of technology and finance and thereby facilitate deployment of over 1,000 GW of solar energy and mobilize more than USD 1,000 billion into solar power by 2030 in Member countries. The ISA envisions to enable the full ecosystem for availability and development of technology, economic resources, and development of storage technology, mass manufacturing and innovation. The reduced cost of technology would enable the undertaking of more ambitious solar energy programmes. Noting that Solar is key source of affordable and reliable energy, successful project implementation could play significant role in achieving the universal energy access goal (SDG 7). The ISA has 67 countries as ISA has six programmes viz. Solar Applications for Agricultural Use, Affordable Finance at Scale, Mini Grids, and Solar Rooftops and Solar E-mobility & Storage and Large-Scale Solar Parks. Till date, ISA has aggregated a pipeline of solar projects worth USD 5.5 Billion and working to facilitate financing of solar projects in member countries.

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RCJ/M