Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

At the third India-Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi in late October, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited 110 countries to join a solar alliance led by New Delhi. The initiative will also be introduced at the Paris Climate Change Conference which is scheduled to be held later this month. India has already found support from Australia, New Zealand, China, Brazil and some African countries.

Renewable energy is of great importance. India wants to become a key player in the global solar energy market and it needs to assume a leadership role. But some raised doubts over whether India can lead the alliance. They believe it is not easy to accelerate into an era of clean energy without relying on the transfer of expensive technology from the EU and the US.

Some media commented that India has a strong determination to become a solar power, but there are huge obstacles when it comes to practice. For example, the cost of the first phase of a proposed Sambhar Salt Lake in the northern state of Rajasthan is estimated at $1.08 billion. Even if its application for loans to the World Bank gets approved, it still needs to raise more than half of the funds.

In addition, such mega projects have been criticized by environmentalists who say that they may destroy the local environment.

But India has its own unique natural potential for developing solar power energies. India has the highest number of daylight hours among the world's top 20 economies. Since Modi took power in 2014, remarkable progress has been made in solar power projects. In recent years, India has pushed forward the construction of renewable energy, especially solar power.

India's vision to greatly promote solar energy is not new. Since 2010, it has been carrying out the National Solar Mission, aiming to reach an installed capacity of 100 gigawatts of solar power by 2022.

India boasts a huge market. Currently, more than 300 million people in the country's rural areas are not hooked up to the grid. By adopting solar power to generate electricity, New Delhi hopes to remove the bottleneck of fossil fuels and enter into an era of clean energy.

Meanwhile, India is taking an active step in exploiting markets in other developing countries such as those in Africa. Samir Saran, vice president of India's Observer Research Foundation, wrote in the Daily Mail that using technological advantages to open up markets will determine the direction of Modi's "Make in India" campaign.

In addition, China and India have plenty of room for cooperation. If they cooperate on technological aspects such as coal development, electricity generation from renewable energies, energy-saving and environmental protection as well as nuclear technologies, India can increase its energy supply with relatively low costs and promote the usage of clean energy. This may also expand China's overseas market.

They can also work together on personnel exchanges and training. Chinese enterprises can learn from India's management experience and create an energy network with their Indian counterparts.

From a long-term perspective, Beijing and New Delhi can jointly exploit energies on the moon. They can put solar panels on the moon, using existing technology to transfer the energy to Earth. Besides abundant solar power, the moon also provides another kind of energy which may be the necessary energy for humanity - fusion power. Helium-3 has the potential to be used as fuel in future nuclear fusion power plants. The Chang'e 1 mission has found Helium-3 distributed widely in lunar soil. If fusion power can be commercialized, it can satisfy the energy needs of all mankind for at least 10,000 years.

The India-led solar alliance may be a highlight of the upcoming Paris conference.

The author is director of the Institute for the Southern and Central Asian Studies at the Shanghai Municipal Center for International Studies. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn