New Delhi: India and the United Kingdom (UK) will launch a project that aims to create a solar grid connecting countries in different parts of the world at the upcoming U.N. climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland.
The project, known as the “Green Grids Initiative,” is being initiated by the International Solar Alliance, which was launched by India and France at the 2015 Paris climate conference to promote solar energy. The U.K. and India agreed to join forces in the initiative in May this year.
Although solar energy is becoming cheaper than dirtier alternatives, countries cannot rely on it at night and must fall back on fossil fuels that produce earth-warming greenhouse gases. This is especially the case in countries like India, where demand for power is soaring.
The new project is based on the idea that the sun is always shining in some part of the world, and the project aims to create a global grid that will transfer the sun’s power from one place to another, said Ajay Mathur, the director-general of the International Solar Alliance.
The project aims to start with a “coalition of the willing,” such as two countries that would mutually benefit from the transfer of solar electricity, he said. These countries would then have to decide how they want the interconnection to work and what rules would regulate it.
The International Solar Alliance hoped to enter into an agreement with a new group called the Global Energy Alliance, which includes philanthropy organizations and multi-laterals like the World Bank, to create a $10 billion fund for the project and help mitigate risks, he said, the Associated Press (AP) news reported.
