VD.69-Introduction to distributed renewable electricity supply for rural areas - ( RUVIVAL ).

Access to electricity is a key mechanism for the improvement of living standards and community services, for the reduction of poverty and enhancement of gender equality.

However, in 2016, 14% of the world’s population still lived without electricity, mostly located in rural areas of developing countries.

Off-grid and mini-grid systems are summarised under the term ‘distributed energy systems’ and provide a fast and cost efficient method for rural electrification.

Applicable technologies include solar photovoltaics, wind power, small hydro power and energy from biomass.

Those small-scale renewable energy systems offer significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts compared to fossil fuel energy generation.