PM Modi, Macron to be at Solar Alliance founding on Dec 8

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron will be present at the founding ceremony of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) due to take place here on December 8, the government said on Thursday.

The institutionalisation of the Gurugram-headquartered ISA, an Indo-French initiative started in 2015 as an inter-governmental agency, will be the highlight of the second global renewable energy investors meet and expo — RE-INVEST 2017 — to be organised here by the New and Renewable Energy Ministry over December 7 to 9, Power Minister R.K. Singh told reporters here.

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The formal founding of the ISA follows ratification of membership by the minimum 15 member states, for the body which has a prospective membership of 125 countries.

The Pacific island Kiribati on Thursday became the 41st member to join the ISA, with a government minister from the country signing the accession papers here at the event.

Around 125 ministerial delegations are expected to attend RE-INVEST 2017, where the government aims to leverage India’s unique position as both a major consumer and manufacturer of renewable energy to attract investment.

The conference-cum-exhibition plans to consolidate on the gains of the previous one which yielded investment commitments of Rs 4 lakh crore for creating clean energy capacity of 78,000 MW, officials here said.

The Indian government has set a target of 175 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity by 2022.