One Sun, One World, One Grid – Burning Issues – Free PDF

ONE SUN, ONE WORLD, ONE GRID

• The idea was first floated by PM Modi in 2018 during the first assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA)
• “One Sun, One World, One Grid” (OSOWOG) or a trans-national electricity grid supplying solar power across the globe.

PROGRESS

• In June this year, the ministry of new and renewable energy came out with a Request for Proposal (RFP) to hire consultants for converting this idea into policy. Several policy experts cited it as part of India’s answer to China’s One Belt One Road infrastructure initiative which entails investment in close to 70 countries.
• According to the draft plan prepared by the MNRE, the ambitious OSOWOG will connect 140 countries through a common grid that will be used to transfer solar power. “The vision behind the OSOWOG mantra is “the Sun never sets” and is a constant at some geographical location, globally, at any given point of time.

DETAILS

• With India at the fulcrum, the solar spectrum can easily be divided into two broad zones viz. far East which would include countries like Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Lao, Cambodia and far West which would cover the Middle East and the Africa Region,” MNRE said in the terms of reference in the RfPpublished to hire consultants for OSOWOG.

THE PHASES

• The plan is divided into three phases: the first phase will connect the Indian grid with the Middle East, South Asia and South-East Asian grids to share solar and other renewable energy resources.
• The second phase will connect the first phase nations with the African pool of renewable sources. The third phase will be the concluding step of global interconnection, said MNRE.

HOW AUSTRALIA IS ON A SIMILAR PATH

AUSTRALIA-ASEAN POWER LINK

• The Australia-ASEAN Power Link, which is part-owned by two Australian billionaires and was endorsed last month by the Australian government, may be the most ambitious renewable energy project underway anywhere. And it could mark a new chapter in the history of energy: the intercontinental movement of green power.

AUSTRALIA’S PLANS

• Scheduled to start operating in 2027 at a cost of about $16 billion, the project would combine the world’s largest solar farm, the largest battery and longest submarine electricity cable. It would produce three gigawatts of power, the equivalent of 9 million rooftop solar panels.

AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT PROMOTION

Latest Burning Issues | Free PDF

Sharing is caring!