New Delhi: The International Solar Alliance (ISA) would welcome China as a member, Ashish Khanna, the Director-General of the 125-member organisation, said while speaking at the eighth session of the ISA Assembly here Tuesday.
“We welcome China’s membership. With them, I believe we would cover 90 per cent of the global solar industry,” Khanna said at a press conference on the first day of the eighth ISA Assembly. He added that Russia, though not a member yet, would also be welcomed into the organisation.
President Droupadi Murmu addressed the opening ceremony of the alliance, the first address by an Indian president at the forum, indicating the organisation’s growing importance in India’s diplomatic footprint.
The organisation, launched by India and France in 2015, on the sidelines of the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) under UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, has grown to 125 member states. The Indo-French initiative has drawn several countries to join, except China and Russia.
China is the largest solar power market in the world, with an installed capacity of over 1,100 gigawatts. China accounts for over three-quarters of global battery production, a sign of its dominance in both solar energy and energy storage.
‘SUNRISE’ to join critical minerals race
As part of the eighth assembly, the ISA announced the launch of SUNRISE (Solar Upcycling Network for Recycling, Innovation and Stakeholder Engagement), intended to recycle critical minerals from electronic waste.
China maintains a stranglehold over the refining and export of critical minerals and rare earth elements globally. The trade war between the US and China has led to Beijing imposing export restrictions that have affected markets worldwide in high-technology fields. Khanna said SUNRISE could help “get the business model for recycling right” and thereby address the problem of critical minerals.
In comments to ThePrint after the press conference, Khanna said: “We are not directly dealing with critical minerals right now… But circularity is part of solar. If India installs 25–30 GW of solar every year, then after 20–25 years, when panels retire, if you can recover 95 per cent of nickel and cobalt from them, those materials become critical. The same applies to battery manufacturing.”
The director-general of ISA further pointed out that solar energy and its storage are “one of the cheapest options for all countries.” He added, “it is the economics currently driving countries,” when asked by ThePrint about increasing unilateral sanctions imposed on energy providers such as Russia by the US, the UK and the European Union.
Russian oil firms Rosneft and Lukoil were sanctioned by the US last week, affecting India’s crude oil imports. India imported about $56 billion of crude oil from Russia in financial year 2024–25.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar warned on Monday, while addressing the East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur, that narrowing options for energy globally “have distorted markets.”
The ISA is also looking to expand the interconnection of solar grids through the “One Sun, One World, One Grid” initiative. Khanna said the goal is to connect Southeast Asia to South Asia, South Asia to West Asia, West Asia to Europe and eventually Africa, further integrating solar grids globally.
The ISA will launch a $200-million Africa Solar Facility soon; it will act as a risk-mitigation fund to promote investment in the continent by solar companies. The ISA is also working with Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund to offer risk-mitigation financial products to promote the growth of mini-grids across the country.
(Edited by Shashank Kishan)
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