Most solar investments flowing to developed countries and China: ISA head

Head of International Solar Alliance Ajay Mathur (ISA) says that the last few years of ground work in the low-income countries, particularly in Africa, would begin yielding fruits soon.

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International Solar Alliance DG Dr Ajay Mathur. (ISA)

5 min readNew DelhiSep 5, 2024 07:25 AM IST First published on: Sep 5, 2024 at 02:59 AM IST

While the deployment of solar energy for electricity generation has been happening at an ever increasing rate, most of the investments are still flowing in to the developed countries, China and large developing nations like India. But head of International Solar Alliance Ajay Mathur (ISA) says that the last few years of ground work in the low-income countries, particularly in Africa, would begin yielding fruits soon.

“Yes, it is true that most of the solar power plants are being installed in the developed world and in China. When we had started, there was a target to attract one trillion dollars into solar energy. That target has been achieved. But unfortunately, about 74 per cent of these investments have gone to the developed countries and China. If you add India to it, this goes up to more than 80 per cent. We haven’t seen much in other developing countries, in Africa, for example. But that is expected to pick up soon,” Mathur, director general of ISA, a New Delhi-based multilateral organisation, said in an interview with The Indian Express.

Mathur said the lop-sided pattern of deployment of solar energy was not unexpected or surprising.

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“There is no running away from the fact that the entry barriers in most of these (low-income) countries are much higher. It would be unrealistic for them to compete with countries like China in attracting investments. And their requirements are also very different. They are not running for massively large solar farms. They need solar-powered solutions, solar-enabled applications rather than large solar plants. ISA has been working in 92 countries to create the right environment for deployment of solar energy. There have been some remarkable successes, like in Democratic Republic of Congo, or in Cuba, but challenges remain. But I can confidently say that within a year or two we will see many more solar projects flowing to these countries,” he said.

ISA, set up at the initiative of India at the 2015 Paris climate change conference, now has 100 members. It is organising a two-day ‘solar festival’ in Delhi, beginning Thursday, in which hundreds of people from the member countries would participate. The first of its kind event expects to create greater awareness about solar solutions amongst the people and share success stories and best practices.

“Community participation is the key to deployment of solar energy in many of these countries. They need to see what is happening in other countries, talk to each other and learn from each other,” Mathur said. ISA plans to make this festival an annual event to be held in different member countries.

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Mathur said he expected the solar deployment in India too to pick up pace in the coming months. “From what I have learnt, in the last eight months or so there have been at least four tenders for round-the-clock renewable energy supply projects (solar plus wind plus batteries) where the offer price per unit of electricity is lower or similar to the price for new coal power projects. This is like crossing a threshold. There are certain other kinds of challenges like land availability that are still hurdles. But I expect the solar deployment to pick up strongly now. I think India’s target of achieving 500 GW of renewable energy installed capacity by 2030 is well within reach now. It scan probably do more,” he said.

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At the global level, the heavy concentration of solar manufacturing in China was a big challenge, Mathur said.

“Currently, about 97 per cent of the silicon ingots that go into the manufacturing of the solar cells come from China. I don’t see how other countries see this as sustainable in the long run. The price advantage that China has in manufacture of solar cells is unmatched. But solar cell to solar panel conversion is something that a lot of other countries, including India, can ramp up significantly. In markets with high demand, the cost of this conversion, with a little bit of incentives, is comparable to solar panels made in China. The geographical diversification of solar manufacturing is crucial for quick deployment in other countries as well. In the longer term, countries like the US, India or Germany would need to compete with China in the manufacture of solar cells as well,” he said.

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