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. © 2003-2012 IEEE.