Remote Access: Context, Challenges, and Obstacles in Rural Electrification

The World Bank, identifies, as the main world challenge in the energy sector, the need to make more energy available at affordable prices to enable all people to use modern energy to meet their basic needs, given that about 1.2 billion people do not have access to electricity today. Many challenges present themselves, particularly those regarding electricity supply to rural and remote areas in the developing world that still lack it. There is a rather large difference between the challenges facing electrification in countries with a mature electric infrastructure and in developing economies. In most countries with a mature electric infrastructure, access to electricity is taken for granted, though utilities are grappling with the challenge of connecting a variety of distributed generators to existing distribution grids while maintaining the security of supply. Generally speaking, the consumer base is well educated, services are relatively affordable, and the relationship of the utilities with their customers is usually well developed. In the developing world the situation is very different. The efforts of power utilities and other stakeholders in these countries are directed toward providing access to reliable electricity services in unelectrified or poorly electrified areas and coping with the problems poor communities face covering the costs of such services. Moreover, potential customers in developing areas have a limited knowledge of modern energy services and uses. In such countries, access to electricity must preferably be planned as one component of a rural development process and in combination with other infrastructure and educational services. This article aims to shed some light on the various aspects of access to electricity, on the efforts under way to increase access for the remaining 20% of the world population still without modern energy, and on the challenges and obstacles regarding the electrification of rural and remote areas.