ENA Sectors 2025-08-22 16:48:43 <p><span style="font-size:14px"><strong>New Delhi, Aug 22 (KNN)</strong> The International Solar Alliance (ISA) will establish 17 centres of excellence across as many countries by the end of 2025, with plans to subsequently set up a Global Capability Centre in India, its Director General Ashish Khanna said on Wednesday. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">The proposed centre in India is envisioned as a Silicon Valley for solar and will serve as a hub linking the network of international centres.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Speaking at a lecture organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Khanna said the centres will provide testing facilities, lab training, and support for a startup ecosystem, modelled on IIT-like universities. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">While the names of the 17 host countries were not disclosed, he noted that the number could expand to 50, with several nations looking to India to strengthen their human capital in solar energy.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">The ISA, co-founded by India and France on the sidelines of the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, is headquartered in Gurugram and counts around 100 member countries. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Its mission is to encourage global adoption of solar energy and mobilise USD 1 trillion in solar investments by 2030, while reducing technology and financing costs.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Khanna underlined the rising demand for Indian expertise in solar project execution, citing areas such as digital tenders, operations and maintenance, and workforce reskilling. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Several countries are looking to engineers from India to supply the vital human capital necessary to implement solar projects, he said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">India has installed 119 GW of solar power capacity as of July 2025, according to official estimates. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy recently reported that 50 percent of the countrys installed power capacity now comes from non-fossil fuel sources, of which solar accounts for nearly half. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">However, publicly available data show that coal continues to dominate electricity generation, supplying nearly three-fourths of actual power consumed.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Looking ahead, Khanna said India would also seek to strengthen regional interconnectivity through initiatives such as the One Sun, One World, One Grid (OSOWOG) project. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">The system would allow countries to exchange electricity across borders. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:14px">Initially, it might sound incredulous to connect a 2,000-km undersea cable between India and the United Arab Emirates, but both countries have different peak solar usage hours, making such power trade viable, he explained.</span></p> <p><em><strong><span style="font-size:14px">(KNN Bureau)</span></strong></em></p> 43242 https://knnindia.co.in/news/newsdetails/sectors/isa-to-establish-17-centres-of-excellence-by-2025-plans-global-capability-hub-in-india 2025-08-22 16:48:43 knnindia.co.in