Current Affairs search results for: "INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE"

1. Italy-India Strategic Partnership in Energy Transition:

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Why in news?

Recently, at a bilateral meeting, India and Italy released the mutual Statement on Italy-India Strategic Partnership in Energy Transition.

Key points:

• Both countries consider working together to support a large size green corridor project in India to capitalize on India's target to produce and integrate 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030.
• Both countries encourage joint investments of Indian and Italian companies in energy transition-related fields.
• Initiate a dialogue to support the development and deployment of green hydrogen and related technologies in India.
• Encourage Italian and Indian companies to develop joint projects in natural gas sector, technological innovation for decarbonisation, Smart Cities and other specific domains (i.e.: electrification of urban public transport).
• Such a partnership could build on existing bilateral mechanisms, including by giving new impetus to the cooperation on renewable energy and sustainable development between the Italian Ministry of Ecological Transition and its Indian counterparts, namely the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

The Green Energy Corridor Projects:

• The Green Energy Corridor Project aims at synchronizing electricity produced from renewable sources, such as solar and wind, with conventional power stations in the grid.
• For evacuation of large-scale renewable energy, Intra State Transmission System (InSTS) project was sanctioned by the Ministry in 2015-16. It is being implemented by eight renewable-rich states of Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. The project is being implemented in these states by the respective State Transmission Utilities (STUs).
• The purpose is to evacuate 20,000 MW of large-scale renewable power and improvement of the grid in the implementing states.
• The total project cost is Rs. 10141 crores.
• The project is being implemented by respective State Transmission Utilities (STUs) allocating the work through a competitive bidding process. The Ministry monitors the project every month.

Additional Information:

• Italy is the eighth largest economy in the world and the third largest in the Eurozone.
• It is also the world's sixth largest manufacturing nation, dominated by small and medium enterprises clustered in many industrial districts.
• India, on the other hand, is the sixth-largest economy and a large market for over 600 Italian companies operating in India.
• Recently, Italy has joined the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

2. USA becomes 101st member country of ISA:

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USA becomes 101st member country of ISA:

Why in the news?

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry formally signed the ISA framework agreement on November 10, 2021 during the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

 Key highlights:

• "This move will strengthen ISA and propel future action on providing a clean source of energy to the world."
• The U.S is now the 101st country to sign the framework agreement of the ISA.
• Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav, who was present at the signing of the framework agreement.
• Emphasised on the urgency of action to provide financial and technological support from the developed countries to the developing ones to ensure Climate Justice

Additional information:

What is ISA?

•   ISA, known as the International Solar Alliance.
•   It is an international organization comprising 98 member countries that have signed the ISA Framework Agreement.
• The ISA has been established as a coalition of solar-rich countries between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
•  The ISA aims to help governments across the world in improving energy access and security around the globe while promoting solar energy as a sustainable way to transition to a carbon-neutral future.
•   The ISA was launched in Paris, France on November 30, 2015. It is headquartered in Gurugram, India.

What is OSOWOG?

• India along with the United Kingdom had launched the Green Grids Initiative – One Sun One World One Grid on November 2, 2021 during the World Leaders Summit of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.
•   It is an initiative by India to interconnect global renewable energy systems with the vision ‘The Sun Never Sets’.
•  The concept of OSOWOG is simply a single global grid for solar energy.
•  The initiative was outlined by PM Narendra Modi during the 1st General Assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in October 2018.

 OSOWOG aims to build and scale-up inter-regional energy grids to share solar energy across borders, leverage the differences between time zones, seasons, pricing, and resources of different countries.

3. China launched world's 1st Earth Science Satellite

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Why in news?

China has launched the world’s first Earth-science satellite, named Guangmu or SDGSAT-1

Key points:

• It is launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the northern Shanxi Province.
• The satellite was launched by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and developed by the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS).
• Guangmu was launched by a Long March-6 carrier rocket which is the 395th flight mission.
• Developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the satellite (SDGSAT-1) is the world's first space science satellite dedicated to serving the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• The satellite will observe interactions between human activities and nature.
• The satellite, with three optical payloads in it, can provide space observation data for monitoring, evaluating and studying the interaction between human and nature and sustainable development.

Additional Information:

About 'Xihe' solar observation satellite:

• Recently, China also launched its first solar observation satellite.It was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province aboard a Long March-2D rocket.
• The satellite was named as 'Xihe' (Xihe is the goddess of the sun who created the calendar in ancient Chinese mythology)
• China has sent its first solar exploration satellite into space from Taiyuan satellite launch centre.
• The satellite has been developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC)
• Ten small satellites including an orbital atmospheric density detection experimental satellite and a commercial meteorological detection constellation experimental satellite were also sent into space using the same career rocket.
• The current launch marks the 391st flight mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.
• About China:
• Capital: Beijing 
• President: Xi-Jinping
• Currency: Renminbi

The US space agency NASA has launched its first Lucy mission to study Jupiter's Trojan asteroids.

• The Lucy probe was launched on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on October 16, 2021.
• Jupiter's Trojan asteroids are two large clusters of space rocks that scientists believe are remnants of the primordial material that formed the solar system's outer planets.
• The mission life of Lucy is 12-year, during which the spacecraft will fly by a total of eight ancient asteroids to study about solar system's evolution.

Why the name LUCY?

• There is a reason behind why NASA has named this mission as Lucy. In 1974, a human skeleton was found in Hadar, Ethiopia. After his study, scientists described him as the world's oldest human skeleton ever found. This skeleton was named Lucy (Australopithecine afarensis).
• To investigate Trojans on Jupiter, NASA has named its mission after the skeleton named Lucy. This spacecraft has gone out in search of fossils that are orbiting the Sun along with Jupiter, millions of kilometers from Earth.

About NASA

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is America's civil space program and the global leader in space exploration.
• It was established in 1 October 1958.
• Headquarters: Washington D.C.

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