ISA, MNRE & World Bank Conduct Workshop for ‘OSOWOG’

The International Solar Alliance (ISA), the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) of India, and the World Bank organized a two-day strategic initiation workshop on ‘One Sun One World One Grid’ (OSOWOG). All the implementation partners came together and presented their roadmap for OSOWOG in that workshop which has set up the first milestone of the 13-month study by the Electricité de France (EDF)-led consortium. 

OSOWOG is an initiative that believes “The Sun Never Sets” and is a constant at some geographical location across the globe. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the call  at the First Assembly of the ISA in October 2018, for a global ecosystem of interconnected renewable energy resources. MNRE, ISA, and World Bank have signed a tripartite agreement to jointly work on the project. The EDF-led consortium is tasked with creating the roadmap for the project.

OSOWOG will be implemented in three phases: 

• Phase I includes a pre-feasibility analysis that will incorporate individual Countries assessment, Demand-Supply Scenario Projections, RE resource potential assessment, and scenario assessment for net-zero by 2050.
• Phase II will focus on key points indicating a political process to choose pilot projects, the timeline in terms of commissioning the interlinks. 
• Phase III will be towards setting up the institutional framework including draft policy and regulatory papers.

Speaking at the workshop, Secretary of MNRE, Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi said, “I am glad that ISA has been involved in the project because it brings in not only the expertise but also an international perspective that the deal requires. Political leadership from other countries has also expressed faith in our vision of a solar grid interconnected with RE across countries.”

“Some multilateral announcements are likely to be made later in the year” added Indu Shekhar. 

Under the vision and ideation of the Government of India, MNRE is the program support agency, ISA is the nodal implementing agency & the World Bank is the strategic advisory and funding agency for the OSOWOG Initiative. They have a critical role to play in synergizing over 140 countries, across the Far East and the Far-West regions, to build agreements, launch energy policy imperatives, and set up the framework for such large-scale global cooperation. Other implementing partners include an EDF-led consortium to conduct the pre-feasibility study for OSOWOG, State Bank of India as the contracting agency, and EY as the knowledge partner for this initiative. 

“I am absolutely delighted that we are finally at a stage where the inception workshop of this study is taking place. The advantage of interconnecting regional grids to each other provides a huge opportunity in terms of availability of the solar electricity, especially at times in a place where solar electricity is not available from other regional grids where solar electricity is available,” expressed Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General of ISA. 

Mathur concluded, “This workshop will enable us to discuss the various facets and timelines. We are absolutely delighted to welcome everyone to the first milestone of the 13-month study.”

Around 160 highly skilled experts from across the world attended the workshop. Conversations included discussions between the experts on technical and economic valuation, regulations in different countries, the roadmap for 2050 for successfully guiding the countries for reduction of CO2 emissions, intermediate targets for 2030 and 2040, the importance of technology improvements HVAC/HVDC, Undersea or overhead lines, losses in transmission, smart operation management, Hydrogen development in transportation, system stability and security of supply.

Mr. Simon Stolp, Practice Manager, Energy-South Asia, The World Bank stated, “As Junaid Ahmad, India’s Country Director of The World Bank opined earlier, OSOWOG is based on the three critical pivots of sustainability, global interdependencies, and India’s commitment to play its global role. I would like to reaffirm The World Bank Group’s commitment to supporting India and the global community in achieving this vision.”