The CEO Caucus has suggested to the International Solar Alliance (ISA) that the governments should also share a part of the finances for investing in solar power in developing countries to improve the investment profile of such regions.
“As far as the CEO Caucus is concerned, there are two kinds of issues. First is financing. Solar sector has got a lot of financing. Last year, there was about $300 billion invested globally. But the vast amount of it was in developed countries and China. We need to figure out why this money is not going into other geographies,” ISA Director General Ajay Mathur told businessline.
Speaking at the sidelines of the 12th Subir Raha Memorial Lecture, organised by state-run ONGC on July 20, Mathur said the caucus is ISA’s latest offering to address challenges in solar manufacturing and supply chains. The lecture was organised on July 20.
The CEO caucus is a platform to connect private sector leaders and key stakeholders. It includes domestic industry bodies such as FICCI and CII, and policy think tanks like the World Bank, World Resources Institute, TERI, Global Solar Council and Solar Power Europe.
Companies in the high-level panel include Waaree, ReNew, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Tata Power, and Avaada, among others.
Enhance funding
“So, the CEO caucus provided us with an input that they see other countries as higher risk countries, they would like to join each other in minimising the risks. They would like governments to also take a stake in some percentage so that the risk is minimised. That was one point,” Mathur said.
The second issue was manufacturing. Currently, a vast amount of manufacturing occurs outside of one country, which creates a problem in logistics, he added.
“If you’re looking at the solar demand increasing by three to eight times by 2030, it becomes absolutely essential that we diversify, geographically diversify the supply chain. How do we get solar module manufacturing in different parts of the world?,” the ISA DG emphasised.
Asked about the outcome of the talks with the CEO caucus, Mathur said, “We hope to do one or two more meetings in Latin America and Africa. Then we will put them all together in the CEO caucus that we will have at the solar festival (India) on September 5-6, 2024.”
In his address, Mathur delved into the pivotal role corporates can play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals identified by the United Nations. He opined that corporations can help in sustainable development in many ways.
“We are now looking at a future where cost-effective, round the clock electricity is finally available, but we need this change to occur at a gigawatt level. We moved into renewables because we believed they were the solution to energy problems, especially the poor of India.”, Mathur said.