Sustainable energization of rural areas of developing countries - a comprehensive planning approach

Access to modern energy services in developing countries (DC) is a double-faced challenge. About 1.3billion people do not have access to electricity; 2.6 billion rely on traditional use of biomass for cooking. Solutions to this energy challenge can neither be through isolated promotion of individual technologies nor fuel switching alone. A “system approach” towards a more comprehensive energy access strategy is required. Such access strategy would comprise of the supply of alternative energy carriers and planning of complete energy solutions via a more comprehensive and sustainable Rural Energy Planning (REP) i.e. Sustainable Energization (SE). Existing procedures to SE do not account for the existing energy balance and have not been demonstrated in the context of rural areas. The study aimed to propose and consolidate a more comprehensive REP procedure for SE of rural areas of DC. A seven-step procedure is proposed and its relevance and validity demonstrated through a field case study. The proposed procedure takes into account the existing energy balance and integrates energy drivers in the energy services supply network. Application of the procedure in a rural context showed a great improvement in the quantity, quality, and variety of accessible and affordable energy services for a more sustainable development of rural areas.