State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has urged the International Solar Alliance (ISA) to come up with an effective programme to help member countries promote solar energy.

"The ISA should be a center of innovative technology to support the expansion of solar power", he said while taking part in a virtual meeting of the standing committee of ISA on Monday.

The meeting, with Indian Power and Renewable Energy Minister RK Singh in the chair, was also addressed by Bangladesh High Commissioner in India Md Mostafizur Rahman, ISA director general Dr. Ajay Mathur and representatives of the member countries.

Nasrul Hamid said that effective development of solar projects will be possible if coordinated efforts are made by the ISA member countries.

He said the government has been putting special emphasis on the development of the solar power sector.

He mentioned that at present the capacity of solar power is about 1200 MW. Of which 461 MW is available from Solar Park and about 350 MW from Solar Rooftop.

Currently, a number of solar parks are under construction and around 9000 MW of renewable sources are planned for implementation in the future.