Off-grid rural electrification experiences from South Asia: Status and best practices

South Asia accounts for 42% of the global population without access to electricity. Such a situation continues to exist despite several initiatives and policies to support electrification efforts by the respective country governments. The challenges to enhance electricity access are manifold including technical, financial, institutional and governance barriers. This paper makes a modest attempt, based on extensive literature review, to highlight the rural electrification situation at the regional and country level in South Asia. The paper also does a comparative analysis to exploit cross learning potential and suggest specific boosters that could serve as input for policy evaluation, review and improvements to assist future electrification efforts in the region. We focussed on renewable energy based mini-grids and stand-alone systems and also covered conventional grid extension. The paper raised some pertinent issues and attempted to find solutions to these issues. The household connection needs to be improved considerably through a targeted approach and innovative micro-lending model. At the same time the electricity supply also needs to be enhanced, such as through distributed power projects utilizing locally available renewable resources, to ensure that connected households continue to receive electricity and that supply constraints do not inhibit extending electrification to new areas. Developing a regulatory mechanism to extend the tariff fixation for mini-grid projects and providing cross-subsidies to ensure long term sustainability of such projects are highlighted. Finally, economic linkages, access to credit and institutional arrangements also need to be organized appropriately, especially for off-grid RE to facilitate successful outcomes. (C) 2011 International Energy Initiative. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.