H.H. Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chief of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince's Court, will lead a high-level delegation from the UAE to the Founding Ceremony of the International Solar Alliance, ISA, in India.
To be co-hosted by India and France on 11th March, 2018, in New Delhi, the ISA Founding Ceremony will focus on promoting affordable sun-powered electricity and facilitating the deployment of existing solar technologies.
The UAE is a founding member of the ISA, which was established by The Paris Declaration at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, COP 21, in 2015, where it was announced by the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and the former French President, Francois Hollande. The UAE joined the Alliance by the end of October 2017, and was officially approved as a member last February.
The delegation includes Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, along with other high-profile officials.
Commenting on UAE efforts towards promoting renewable energy, Al-Zeyoudi said, "The UAE has been leading regional renewable energy efforts for over a decade now, when the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, Masdar, was established back in 2006. However, we still need to exert tremendous efforts to realise the ambitious national goals for renewables. To optimise these efforts, we strive to fully cooperate with our regional and international partners under the umbrella of the International Solar Alliance.
"Solar energy is the fastest-growing energy source and has a pivotal role in the new era of energy sources, particularly in the presence of attractive business opportunities to invest in solar enterprises. The prices of solar PV modules have declined by 80 percent between 2010 – 2016, and the cost of solar energy generation in PV plants lowered by 70 percent. The drop in cost is expected to continue in the coming years," he added.
So far, 26 countries have ratified and 58 countries have signed the ISA Framework Agreement. The ISA hosted the ‘International Solar Alliance Forum’ in Abu Dhabi on the sidelines of the Future World Energy Summit 2018, where the forum saw the signing of nine solar projects across five ISA member countries, including UAE, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, India and Spain.
The alliance includes more than 121 prospective member countries located either fully or partially between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. It aims to help developing countries harness 1,000 GW of solar by 2030 by raising $US1 trillion, and arranging the associated technological assistance to support the goal.
