The International Solar Alliance (ISA), founded in 2015 by India and France, is making significant strides towards enhancing solar energy investments worldwide. Set up at the 21st Conference of the Parties in Paris, the ISA now has 124 member and signatory countries. The main goal is to encourage more investments in solar energy, with a deadline of 2030.
The ISA’s ultimate goal is to lower technology and financing costs for solar energy, helping more people access and adopt the technology. This new initiative is badly needed with the solar technology advances only increasing in pace while our need to respond to climate change becomes more urgent.
Rapid Growth in Solar Capacity
The global solar capacity landscape has changed exponentially over the last several decades. After that 25-year ramp, it only took another 4 years to add the next 1,000 GW of solar capacity worldwide. Staggeringly, the next 1,000 GW was added in a mere two-year span, representing the incredible pace that our world is shifting to solar energy. Realize this progress, we still have over 800 GW of untapped solar energy. The two biggest barriers are massive transmission issues and a lack of storage systems.
Despite the incredible growth of solar installations across the country, experts agree that obstacles remain that prevent the industry from growing even faster. The ISA is committed to surmounting these challenges with cutting-edge technology that improves energy transmission and storage efficiency, as well.
Innovations in Energy Storage
One of the most interesting space of innovation has been in new energy storage technologies. New advances in battery storage — a crucial technology for getting the most out of solar power — are popping up every day. This technology allows for the smooth integration of solar energy into existing grids by addressing the intermittent nature of solar power generation.
Pumped storage has become an effective, large-scale energy storage solution. This innovative approach uses gravitational potential energy to charge and discharge electricity on demand. Researchers are working on improving other emerging technologies such as molten salts and carbon dioxide-based systems. These innovations are examples of efforts to increase our energy storage capacity. While these innovations are all at different stages of development, they each show promise for future scalability.
Addressing Challenges Ahead
The ISA understands that the advances in energy storage are still exciting and universally applicable. There is still a gap between effectively implementing these technologies. The future of advanced storage will need to fit into the existing landscape. This step is key to realizing the full potential of underutilized solar energy.
To say the ISA is ambitious in pursuing its mission would be an understatement. It serves as a crucial platform to actively nurture cooperation between member countries and drive investments in solar projects. Together, these efforts drastically cut down costs by increasing solar capacity. They are urgently working to ensure that America’s energy future is one that can meet the challenges climate change presents.