astronomy

International Solar Alliance

International Solar Alliance is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand International Solar Alliance rather than just read about it. In short: The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is an alliance of more than 112 member and 14 signatory countries, most being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The primary objective of the alliance is to work for the efficient consumption of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

Key takeaways

International Solar Alliance belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect International Solar Alliance to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of International Solar Alliance from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is an alliance of more than 112 member and 14 signatory countries, most being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The primary objective of the alliance is to work for the efficient consumption of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. This initiative was first proposed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a speech in November 2015 at Wembley Stadium in which he referred to sunshine countries as Suryaputra ("Sons of the Sun"). The alliance is a treaty-based inter-governmental organization. Countries that do not fall within the Tropics can join the alliance and enjoy all benefits as other members, with the exception of voting rights. The initiative was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the India Africa Summit, and a meeting of member countries ahead of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in November 2015. The framework agreement of the International Solar Alliance opened for signatures in Marrakesh, Morocco, in November 2016, and 102 countries joined.

Headquarters The ISA is headquartered in Haryana, India. In January 2016, Narendra Modi, and the then French President François Hollande jointly laid the foundation stone of the ISA Headquarters and inaugurated the interim Secretariat at the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) in Gwal Pahari, Gurugram, India. The Indian government has dedicated five acres of land on the NISE campus for its future headquarters; it also has contributed ₹1.75 billion (US$18 million) to the fund to build a campus and for meeting expenditures for the first five years. The alliance is also called International Agency for Solar Policy and Application (IASPA).

Objective The focus is on solar power utilization. The launching of such an alliance in Paris also sends a strong signal to the global communities about the sincerity of the developing nations towards their concern about climate change and to switch to a low-carbon growth path. India has pledged a target of installing 175 GW of renewable energy of which 100 GW will be solar energy by 2022 and reduction in emission intensity by 33–35% by 2030 to let solar energy reach to the most unconnected villages and communities and also towards creating a clean planet. India's pledge to the Paris summit offered to bring 40% of its electricity generation capacity (not actual production) from non-fossil sources (renewable, large hydro, and nuclear) by 2030. It is based on world cooperation.

Geographical importance The area of Earth located in between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn is called the tropical (torrid) zone. This is the part of the world in which the sun can appear directly overhead, and that more-direct exposure means that the sun's actual effect is greater here; anywhere north or south of this zone, sunlight always reaches the earth's surface at an angle and is correspondingly less intense. The sunniest countries of the world are on the African continent, ranging from Somalia- Horn of Africa-, east to Niger, west and north to Egypt.

Members The alliance is a treaty-based inter-governmental organization. The framework agreement of the International Solar Alliance opened for signatures in Marrakesh, Morocco, in November 2016, on the sidelines of the 2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference (the twenty-second session of the Conference of the Parties, or COP 22). On its first day (15 November), sixteen countries signed the Agreement: India, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Dominican Republic, Guinea, Mali, Nauru, Niger, Tanzania, Tuvalu, Cambodia, Ethiopia; Burkina Faso, Bangladesh and Madagascar. By 17 November, Guinea Bissau, Fiji, France also signed the agreement. On 6 November 2017, India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held a meeting with Guinea's Foreign Minister, Mamady Toure. During the course of this meeting, Mamady Toure handed over Guinea's Instrument of Accession to the India-initiated International Solar Alliance (ISA). Vanuatu and Liberia also signed the agreement. Subsequently, an additional 107 countries joined the agreement, including countries, such as the United States, Japan, Algeria, Peru, Chile, Paraguay, France, Brazil, India, Argentina and Australia. A conclave started from 30 November 2015 for the sunshine grouping, called the InSPA (International Agency for Solar Policy & Application).

Parties that signed/ratified the framework of ISA The following countries have ratified the framework.

Afghanistan + (Position unclear after Taliban takeover) Algeria + Argentina + Armenia + Australia + Bahrain + Bangladesh + Barbados + Belarus + Belgium + Belize + Benin + Bhutan + Bolivia + Botswana + Brazil + Brunei + Bulgaria + Burkina Faso + Burundi + Cape Verde + Cambodia + Cameroon + Chad + Chile + Comoros + Republic of the Congo + Costa Rica + Cuba + Democratic Republic of the Congo + Denmark + Djibouti + Dominica + Dominican Republic + Egypt + El Salvador + Equatorial Guinea + Ethiopia + Fiji + Finland + France + Gabon + Gambia + Ghana + Greece + Grenada + Guatemala + Guinea + Guinea-Bissau + Guyana + Haiti + India + Ireland + Israel + Ivory Coast + Italy + Jamaica + Japan + Kiribati + Liberia + Luxembourg + Malta + Madagascar + Malawi + Maldives + Marshall Islands + Mali + Mauritius + Morocco + Moldova + Mozambique + Myanmar + Namibia + Nauru + Nepal + Netherlands + Nicaragua + Niger + Oman + Palau + Panama + Papua New Guinea + Paraguay + Peru + Philippines + Romania + Rwanda + Saint Lucia + Saint Vincent and the Grenadines + Samoa + São Tomé and Príncipe + Saudi Arabia + Senegal + Seychelles + Somalia + South Sudan + Spain + Sri Lanka + Sudan + Suriname + Syria + Tanzania + Thailand + Tonga + Togo + Trinidad and Tobago + Tuvalu + Uganda + United Arab Emirates + United Kingdom + Vanuatu + Venezuela + Yemen + Zambia +

Former members United States

Initiatives and partnerships

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with International Solar Alliance

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what International Solar Alliance claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to International Solar Alliance before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about International Solar Alliance ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of International Solar Alliance

In research: International Solar Alliance appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses International Solar Alliance in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: International Solar Alliance is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2015 in international relations, Economic country classifications, Foreign relations of India, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for International Solar Alliance outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study International Solar Alliance in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what International Solar Alliance means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain International Solar Alliance out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is International Solar Alliance in simple terms?

Why does International Solar Alliance matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study International Solar Alliance?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on International Solar Alliance.