The Commonwealth of The Bahamas joined the International Solar Alliance (ISA) as its 116th member in early November 2026. The Bahamas High Commissioner to India, P. Nicholas Symonette Jr., handed over the Instrument of Accession to the ISA Framework Agreement on the sidelines of the 9th Session of the ISA Assembly in New Delhi. The entry strengthens the solar alliance of sunshine rich nations and gives the island nation new access to finance, technology and joint procurement for solar and storage.
How The Bahamas Became the 116th Member
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Bahamas announced on 4 November 2026 that the country had formally ratified its membership of the alliance. The signed instrument was delivered on 3 November 2026 on the margins of the Ninth Session of the ISA Assembly at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.
P. Nicholas Symonette Jr., High Commissioner of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to India, handed over the Instrument of Accession to the ISA Framework Agreement. P. S. Gangadhar, Joint Secretary for Economic Diplomacy in the Ministry of External Affairs and Head of Depository for the agreement, received the document on behalf of the alliance.
An Instrument of Accession is a formal legal paper through which a state accepts the treaty that creates an organisation. With its deposit, The Bahamas completed the legal step needed to become a full member. The Alliance now counts 116 full members, while the wider grouping of signatories and members involved in its work stands at about 130 countries.
What Is the International Solar Alliance
The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is a treaty based intergovernmental organisation for large scale deployment of solar energy. It brings together member countries to cut the cost of finance and technology, aggregate demand for solar equipment and support energy access, energy security and clean energy transition.
The ISA pursues a strategy called Towards 1000. The plan aims to mobilise $1,000 billion in solar investment by 2030, deliver clean energy access to 1,000 million people, install 1,000 GW of solar capacity and cut 1,000 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year.
The working method is practical. Countries pool their demand so that solar panels, pumps, mini grids and storage become cheaper through bulk purchase. The alliance also helps frame policy, build skills and prepare bankable projects that private investors can fund, while running demonstration projects and sharing tested models among developing countries.
When Was the International Solar Alliance Established and Who Launched It
The ISA was jointly launched by India and France on 30 November 2015 in Paris, on the sidelines of the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then French President Francois Hollande announced the initiative. India offered to host the Secretariat and to provide land and funds for its first five years.
The idea was first shaped at the India Africa Summit in New Delhi in October 2015. It focused at the start on sunshine rich countries lying fully or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, where solar potential is high but finance costs are steep. A later amendment opened membership to all Member States of the United Nations.
Key milestones in the growth of the alliance are summarised below.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 30 November 2015 | India and France launch ISA in Paris during COP21 |
| 15 November 2016 | ISA Framework Agreement opens for signature in Marrakesh during COP22 |
| 6 December 2017 | Framework Agreement enters into force after 15 ratifications, making ISA a treaty based body |
| 11 March 2018 | Founding Summit held in New Delhi, co hosted by Modi and Emmanuel Macron |
| 3 October 2018 | First ISA Assembly meets in New Delhi |
The ISA Assembly is the apex decision making body. Every member is represented in it. The Assembly meets every year at ministerial level, approves the budget, selects the Director General and clears programmes. The Secretariat supports the Assembly and helps countries design programmes and raise funds. Ashish Khanna, from India, serves as Director General. India holds the Presidency and France holds the Co-Presidency.
Where Is the International Solar Alliance Headquarters Located
The ISA headquarters is located at the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) campus at Gwal Pahari in Gurugram, Haryana. It is the first intergovernmental treaty based organisation to be headquartered in India. The foundation stone for the headquarters and interim Secretariat was laid in January 2016.
The headquarters at Surya Bhawan, NISE campus, Gurugram houses the Secretariat that carries out the daily work of the alliance. The alliance also maintains an office at the Meridien Commercial Tower on Raisina Road in New Delhi. India provided five acres of land on the NISE campus and contributed about ₹475 crore through the government and public sector units toward the corpus and running costs, as reported to Parliament in 2024.
English and French are the working languages of the alliance. The agreement is registered with the United Nations as a treaty, which gives the body a clear legal identity among international organisations.
Why The Bahamas Membership Matters for Small Island Nations
The Bahamas is an archipelago of about 700 islands and more than 2,000 cays spread over nearly 100,000 square miles of ocean in the western Atlantic. Only 30 to 40 islands are inhabited. The capital is Nassau on New Providence island. The Tropic of Cancer passes through the islands of Long Island and Exuma, which gives the country strong sunshine through the year.
The power system shows why solar matters here. Almost the entire electricity supply comes from imported petroleum, mainly diesel and heavy fuel oil. National generation is about 2.2 terawatt hours a year. Less than one percent comes from solar. Households and hotels often pay around $0.32 per unit, close to the Caribbean average of $0.33. This raises the cost of living and business and leaves the budget exposed to swings in global oil prices.
The Bahamas government has set a target of at least 30 percent renewable energy in the electricity mix by 2030. Its latest climate plan points to utility scale solar farms in New Providence with battery storage, hybrid microgrids in the Family Islands, and more rooftop solar and community grids. The Foreign Ministry said ISA membership will open access to technical help, finance and partnerships to expand solar and storage and cut dependence on costly fuel imports.
For the ISA, the entry adds weight to its work with Small Island Developing States (SIDS). These states often pay 25 to 30 cents per unit because they run on diesel. At the Ninth Assembly, the ISA highlighted a joint procurement platform that groups SIDS demand for solar and storage. The first tender under this effort, a 220 MW solar and storage project in Mauritius worth nearly half a billion dollars, was awarded to the private sector. Similar support has reached health centres, schools, clean drinking water units and cold storage in Fiji, Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles. The Bahamas, with its scattered grids and low lying terrain, fits directly into this model of aggregation, shared standards and lower prices.
What Did the 9th ISA Assembly in New Delhi Decide
The Ninth Session of the ISA Assembly was held from 2 to 5 November 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, along with the Bharat Renewable Energy Summit and Expo 2026. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the summit on 2 November in the presence of central ministers, six Chief Ministers and more than 32 ministers from member and signatory countries. Over 130 countries and 800 delegates took part. The session produced clear results on leadership, finance and skills.
India was re elected President of the ISA for a third straight term. France was re elected Co President for 2026 to 2028, after a contest with Burkina Faso. The Assembly was co chaired by Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi and French Minister Delegate Mathieu Lefevre. France announced a voluntary contribution of 50,000 euros for 2026 and pointed to its support of 1.25 million euros since 2021 for the Solar Technology Application Resource Centre programme.
On finance for Africa and island states, the ISA advanced the $200 million Africa Solar Facility with partners including the World Bank, and linked it with a $300 million Nigeria Distributed Renewable Energy Fund for rooftop solar, mini grids and solar pumps. India committed about ₹225 crore ($25 million) to expand affordable solar access. The Director General said solar and storage now cost ₹3 to ₹4 per unit in India, while many island states pay seven to eight times more, which makes joint buying urgent.
On capacity building, the Assembly launched the first phase of SHINE, the Strategic Hub for Innovation and Execution, the global capability centre of the ISA. SHINE will work with 17 Solar Technology Application Resource Centres (STAR C) in member countries, support grid digitisation and energy planning, and run the AI enabled ISA Academy. The goal over five years is to touch 90 million lives and prepare projects worth more than $4 billion. Eight analytical reports, including studies on storage strategy, ease of doing solar in 127 countries and lessons from the PM KUSUM farm solar scheme, were also released.
Key Takeaways
- The Bahamas became the 116th full member of the International Solar Alliance after depositing its Instrument of Accession on 3 November 2026.
- The accession papers were handed over by P. Nicholas Symonette Jr. to P. S. Gangadhar on the sidelines of the 9th ISA Assembly in New Delhi.
- The ISA was jointly launched by India and France on 30 November 2015 in Paris during COP21 and became a treaty based body on 6 December 2017.
- The ISA headquarters is located at the National Institute of Solar Energy campus at Gwal Pahari, Gurugram, Haryana.
- At the 9th Assembly held from 2 to 5 November 2026, India was re elected President and France was re elected Co President.
