We Need To Invest In Research Into Alternatives Like Sodium-ion For Human Survival: RK Singh

As India is lacking lithium and importing most of it from China to develop lithium-ion battery of electric vehicles, Union Minister of Power & Renewable Energy RK Singh on Wednesday said that we need to invest in research into alternatives like Sodium-ion for the survival of human being.

Addressing a press conference on 6^th International Solar Alliance (ISA) in New Delhi, Singh said, “There is an issue of storage. 90 per cent of the storage capacity is with one country. We are crafting a scheme for storage. For lithium-ion battery you need lithium, now again 80 to 90 per cent lithium is with one country. We need to invest in researching other alternatives like sodium-ion for the survival of the human being.”

He said that the International Solar Alliance has a seminal role to play in energy transition given its focus on solar energy. “Our experience shows that among renewable sources, solar has the edge; it is much more dependable, reliable and available for more months of the year,” he added.

Energy Access Is Central To Energy Transition

The Minister shared the government’s belief that energy access is central to any energy transition. “We cannot have energy transition without energy access. And access has to be clean access as it should not be at the cost of the planet. That is what ISA has been doing. We advise countries how to do this, how to do electrification using solar, we help them set up regulatory structures, and physical structures such as generation being linked to transmission and distribution. We make experts available and ISA bears the cost.” The Minister emphasized that the most important contribution of the ISA would be to ensure that investment goes to countries of the South.

He informed that the ISA has 124 signatories, out of which 94 have ratified and this is much bigger than other energy organizations like IEA. “ISA is international and intercontinental and it is growing. We believe it has a salient role to play in energy transition.”

The minister also informed that 96 countries have already registered to participate in the 6th ISA Assembly, out of which 20 are ministers. “Other organizations such as multilateral development banks and other stakeholders too will participate. We propose to hold the Assembly in Bharat Mandapam which has just hosted the G20,” Singh added.

Solar Is Playing A Major Role In Renewable Energy Capacity Addition

The Minister said that there is almost complete unanimity across the world that energy transition has to be done and that emissions have to be reduced as soon as possible. “The pace of emissions reduction is not as fast as it used to be. Time is running out. Global temperature has already risen by 1.01 degree Celsius. As far as transition is concerned, solar is playing a major role. Capacity addition in solar is outstripping that happening in any other form of renewable energy.”

The Minister said that hydro has an essential role to play in energy transition. “Hydro has a role in balancing the grid. Many countries have more than 50 per cent of their energy coming from hydro and it is working well. By and large, hydro has stood the test of time, we have had hydro projects which have been functioning since the 60s and 70s.”

ISA Assembly

The ISA Assembly is the apex decision-making body of ISA, in which each Member Country is represented. This body makes decisions concerning the implementation of the ISA’s Framework Agreement and coordinated actions to be taken to achieve its objectives. The Assembly meets annually at the ministerial level at the ISA’s seat. It assesses the aggregate effect of the programmes and other activities in terms of deployment of solar energy, performance, reliability, cost and scale of finance.

109 countries are signatories to the ISA Framework Agreement, of which 90 countries have submitted the necessary instruments of ratification to become full members of the ISA. The Republic of India holds the office of the President of the ISA Assembly, with the Government of the French Republic as the co-president.