Upendra Tripathy appointed as Interim Director General of ISA

Upendra Tripathy, the former secretary at Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, was appointed as the full-time interim Director General (IDG) of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

A notification read, “Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines, Government of India and Ms. Ségolène Royal, Minister for Environment, Energy and Marine Affairs Government of France jointly decided to appoint Mr. Upendra Tripathy, as the Interim Director General (IDG) of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) on a full-time basis.”

About Upendra Tripathy

• Tripathy is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Karnataka Cadre.

• He served the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy as its secretary from 1 April 2014 to 31 October 2016.

• He has worked with local, provincial and union governments in India for the last 36 years.

International Solar Alliance headquartered in India with United Nations as Strategic Partner

• Departments served by Tripathy include power, commerce, environment, transport and education.

• In April 2009, he was awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration.

Background on International Solar Alliance (ISA)

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is a coalition of the solar research-rich countries. It was jointly launched on 30 November 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of France François Hollande on the first day of the Paris Climate Conference (CoP21). It was launched in the presence of Ban Ki Moon, the then Secretary-General of the United Nations.

20 nations sign Framework Agreement of International Solar Alliance

Mission and vision of International Solar Alliance

To provide a dedicated platform for cooperation among solar resource-rich countries where the global community can make a positive contribution to assist and help achieve the common goals of increasing use of the solar energy in meeting energy needs of prospective ISA member countries in a safe, convenient, affordable, equitable and sustainable manner. The stakeholders of the global community include bilateral and multilateral organisations, industry, corporates among others.

Earlier on 25 January 2016, PM Modi and President Hollande jointly laid the foundation stone of the ISA headquarters in Gwalpahari, Gurugram (then Gurgaon). They also inaugurated the Interim Secretariat of the ISA at the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) in Gurugram.

International Solar Alliance Cell and World Bank sign Declaration for promoting Solar Energy

As per the agreed plan, the Union Government will contribute US$ 27 million to the ISA for creating the corpus, building infrastructure and recurring expenditure over 5-year duration.