World Solar Technology Summit
About the Summit

• The First World Solar Technology Summit will be organized by the International Solar Alliance (ISA) on a virtual platform on the 8th of September.
• Ministers from all member countries of the ISA will attend the summit. It will also be attended by high-level dignitaries from the scientific research and development community, heads of global corporations, financial & multilateral bodies, think tanks and senior government functionaries.
• The summit will include many deliberations on low cost, innovative and affordable solar technologies.
• ISA would also be launching the ISA Journal on Solar Energy that would help authors from across the globe to publish their articles on solar energy, during the event.

Context: Recently, Germany has expressed interest in joining the International Solar Alliance (ISA), a treaty based inter-governmental alliance of 121 sunshine-rich countries that lie fully or partially between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
Background
Change in membership criteria: 

• Membership to the ISA was earlier limited to 121 countries, which were partially or entirely located within the tropics which didn’t allow major solar energy economies such as Germany to join the alliance.
• The criteria was relaxed after the 30 ISA member countries ratified its framework agreement. 
• Now all members of the United Nations can join the International Solar Alliance (ISA) under the recently amended ISA Framework Agreement
• Germany plans to generate two-thirds of its energy needs from solar and wind power projects by 2030.

Significance of Germany's membership of ISA

• Strategic and financial weight to the ISA: Germany is a member of the P5+1 grouping, comprising five permanent members—China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US, and is one of the earliest green economy proponents.
• It will also boost India’s ambitious cross-border power grid plan, the One Sun One World One Grid as China attempts to co-opt countries into its One Belt One Road initiative.

About International Solar Alliance

• Indian PM and French President had launched the International Solar Alliance during COP21 in Paris aiming to contribute to the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement through rapid and massive deployment of solar energy.
• It is the first treaty-based international government organization headquartered in India (Gurugram,New Delhi). 
• The initiative is being leveraged by India’s state-run organizations to set up solar projects in member nations.

Its Objectives

• Develop integrated solar or solar hybrid based cold chain solutions that bring economic value to farmers and producers, and include the post-harvest in-field technologies that can secure an extended shelf-life of perishable items
• Encourage the use of sustainable, low global warming potential solar-based cooling technologies through financing and incentives for small- and medium-sized farms
• Promote applied research and industry engagement to introduce affordable refrigeration solutions for small- and medium-sized producers with special emphasis on post-harvest processing facilities and transportation

One Sun One World One Grid

• According to the draft plan prepared by the ministry of new and renewable energy, the ambitious OSOWOG will connect 140 countries through a common grid that will be used to transfer solar power. 
• The vision behind the OSOWOG mantra is “the Sun never sets” and is a constant at some geographical location, globally, at any given point of time. 
• With India at the fulcrum, the solar spectrum can easily be divided into two broad zones viz. 
• Far East which would include countries like Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Lao, Cambodia and 
• Far West which would cover the Middle East and the Africa Region,” MNRE said in the terms of reference in the RfP published to hire consultants for OSOWOG.

The plan is divided into three phases: 

• The first phase will connect the Indian grid with the Middle East, South Asia and South-East Asian grids to share solar and other renewable energy resources. 
• The second phase will connect the first phase nations with the African pool of renewable sources. 
• The third phase will be the concluding step of global interconnection.