OSOWOG

India and UK, jointly announced a declaration on “one sun, one world, one grid” — or OSOWOG at the Conference of Parties (COP26), held in Glasgow, UK.
GGI-OSOWOG was conceived in 2018 to develop global interconnected solar energy systems.
Under the International Solar Alliance, India announced the launch of the Green Grids Initiative — One Sun, One World, One Grid (GGI-OSOWOG) in partnership with the United Kingdom.
The vision behind the OSOWOG is ‘The Sun Never Sets’ and is a constant at some geographical location, globally, at any given point of time.
The initiative aims to build a framework for global cooperation on the effective utilisation of renewable resources and to help ensure that clean and efficient energy is a reliable option for all nations to meet their energy requirements by 2030.
This project aspires to harness the sun’s energy and build a global interconnected electricity grid to accelerate the transition to renewable energy.
The initiative is expected to connect more than 80 countries across a large geographical area, with varying levels of sunlight. A transitional system will enable countries with low levels of sunlight to obtain energy from areas with an excess of it.

Stages of Grid Connection:

The interconnection of the Indian grids with the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asian (MESASEA) grids.
MESASEA grids’ interconnection with the African power grid.
Finally, global interconnectivity.

Importance of GGI OSOWOG

It will bring more technical, financial and research cooperation to help facilitate cross-border renewable energy transfer projects, which will give OSOWOG its global infrastructure.
It will also create a depth of organizational scale, spanning national governments, international financial and technical organisations, legislators, power system operators and knowledge leaders, to accelerate the construction of the new infrastructure needed for a world powered by clean energy.
It will enable a faster leap towards a global ecosystem of interconnected renewables that are shared for mutual benefit and global sustainability.
It will provide momentum, and a pool of investment towards low-carbon, innovative solar projects, and bring together skilled workers for a solar-powered economic recovery. It can also propel investment and create millions of new green jobs.
It will lead to reduced project costs, higher efficiencies and increased asset utilization for all the participating entities.
It will result in economic benefits, positively impact poverty alleviation and support in mitigating water, sanitation, food and other socio-economic challenges.
Allow national renewable energy management centres in India to grow as regional and global management centres.

Way Forward

Environmental costs of solar power, efficiency issues, energy losses due to conversion and transfer, and the problem of waste management are barriers that need to be addressed urgently by the implementing bodies.
In India, the implementation of GGI comes at an increased environmental cost due to waste disposal issues.
These obstacles need to be worked around by developing specific systems to reuse and recycle existing infrastructure.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT

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