Colombo to host Int’l Solar Alliance’s 7th Regional Committee Meeting

• RCM for Asia and Pacific region set to advance regional partnerships 

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) will host the Seventh Regional Committee Meeting (RCM) for the Asia and Pacific region from July 15 to 17, 2025, in Colombo. 

This important gathering will bring together government officials, technical universities, think tanks, institutional partners and leaders from the private sector to advance a coordinated and strategic agenda for scaling solar deployment across this dynamic and diverse region. 

With the theme ‘Advancing Solar Cooperation Across a Region of Diversity and Opportunity’, the meeting will serve as a confluence of strategic dialogue, knowledge exchange and action-oriented outcomes to strengthen the APAC region’s leadership in the global solar transition.

Emphasising the significance of the Asia and Pacific region in shaping the clean energy future, ISA Director General Ashish Khanna remarked, “The Asia and Pacific region is at the heart of the global energy transition. The RCM in Colombo is an opportunity to develop practical, investment-ready solutions with the potential to scale across countries and technologies. Whether it is developing regional aggregated solar energy platforms for SIDS, enabling regional interconnections between countries, scaling up Asian institutions for integration of solar and digital innovation or supporting the growth of new technologies like green hydrogen and storage, this meeting will help chart a path towards a solar-powered future, grounded in partnerships and local leadership.”

The RCM, chaired by Vice President from the region, the Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, will serve as a platform to align regional solar priorities with the ISA’s evolving strategic vision, anchored in its four foundational pillars:

• Catalytic finance hub: Expanding catalytic and blended finance initiatives to derisk solar investments, with a view to scaling similar facilities across Asia and the Pacific, building on the ISA’s experiences in Africa.
• Global Capability Centre and digitisation: Progressing the ISA’s vision of the ‘Silicon Valley for Solar’ through a hub-and-spoke model that connects STAR Centres, fosters innovation via the SolarX Startup Challenge and provides tailored technical assistance across member countries.
• Regional and country-level platforms: Expanding initiatives like the SIDS platform for e-tendering and e-procurement to aggregate regional demand and open wider market ac-cess.
• Technology roadmap and policy innovation: The RCM will support the ISA member countries in adopting advanced solar technologies, diversifying supply chains and integrating emerging solutions like green hydrogen and energy storage. 

These efforts build on the ISA-ADB joint project on Ecosystem Readiness for Green Hydrogen, which was prominently showcased at the Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) 2025 held in Manila, the Philippines. During the ACEF, the ISA released key reports under this project, including the Framework for Green Hydrogen Hubs, country-specific readiness assessments and strategic roadmaps for Energy Storage Systems and Long Duration Energy Storage. These resources will directly inform the technology pathways and policy discussions at the APAC RCM, enabling countries to fast-track deployment and scale solutions across the region.

Other thematic sessions during the APAC RCM will explore:

• Operationalising SIDS Solar Platform: Building a transparent regional e-marketplace tailored for Small Island Developing States, focusing on institutional design, ownership models and regional case studies.
• Strengthening institutional capacity through STAR Centres and Global Capability Centre: Highlighting successful operational models in Bhutan, Papua New Guinea and Kiribati and co-developing digital learning platforms to close regional skill gaps.
• Accelerating green hydrogen, energy storage and e-mobility: Developing policy pathways and project pipelines for emerging solutions, especially targeting Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). 
• Advancing regional interconnections: Exploring frameworks for cross-border solar trade, new financing models and leveraging regional grid infrastructure to expand solar access and lower costs.

The RCM will also include the signing of Country Partnership Frameworks with select countries and Partnership Agreements with regional and international organisations to further strengthen the ISA’s solar initiatives and expand collaborative efforts across the Asia and Pacific region. In addition, the meeting will feature discussions on the establishment of new regional STAR Centres aimed at enhancing institutional capacity, building technical expertise and supporting the region’s long-term solar energy goals.

This RCM will mark a significant step in strengthening the ISA’s regional engagement, paving the way for impactful programmes, resilient partnerships and long-term strategies aligned with the ISA’s Framework Agreement and the broader global climate agenda.