United Nations, September 25: Marking India’s global leadership in renewable energy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with other world leaders today inaugurated the ‘Gandhi Solar Park’ at the UN headquarters and released a commemorative stamp issued by the UN on the occasion of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. UN Secretary-General António Guterres and a number of heads of state were present on the occasion.
“The platform is a living example that Mahatma Gandhi was from India but did not belong only to India. Even those who had never met Gandhiji were deeply influenced by his life. Gandhiji had stressed on the real strength of democracy,” Said PM Modi on the occasion.
Gandhi Solar Park is a 50KV solar park having 193 solar panels, each representing a member of the UN. The park was built at a cost of US $1 million. The park has the maximum capacity to generate 86,244 KWh power which equals 61 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide; 30,242 kg of coal burned and carbon sequestered from 1,008 tree seedlings grown for 10 years.
“Gandhi Solar Park at the UN headquarters symbolised a massive change in perception about India globally. India has demonstrated leadership in the sphere of renewable energy over the last few years and there has been a dramatic shift in India’s position in the UN climate talks over the past five years, and it has moved from being a laggard to a leader,” said Harjeet Singh, the global leader on climate change for Action Aid.
A special UN postage stamp on Gandhi 150 years was released and the Gandhi Peace Garden, which is a crowd-funded project to plant 150 trees adopted by people in the memory of their loved ones at the State University of New York-Old Westbury campus, was in the memory of Mahatma Gandhi.
India will host the second general assembly of the International Solar Alliance, which was jointly launched by India and France, in New Delhi from 30 October to 2 November, on the sidelines of COP-21, the UN Climate Conference.