Green rural electrification in mountains

The World Energy Assessment notes that the dispersed character of rural populations and their low commercial energy consumption result in poor capacity utilisation efficiency for transmission and distribution systems and other energy infrastructure (UNDP, 2000). As mountains cover 20% of the land surface and are home to only 10% of the human population (those living above 4000 m elevation) (Small & Cohen, 2004), this feature of scattering is especially critical in the mountains.

A concept widely used by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2004) to explain the energy needs of rural population is the energy ladder, in which consumers climb from simple biomass fuels (dung, crop residues, firewood) to the most convenient, efficient form of energy appropriate to the task at hand (usually liquid or gaseous fuels for cooking and heating and electricity for most other uses). In this framework, electricity is at the top of the energy ladder (UNDP, 2000). And despite that electricity is still not a solution for cooking in rural areas of mountains, it is essential to achieve a satisfactory quality of life through its uses in lighting, communication, refrigeration, motor applications, and many activities rural industry.

Then, accepting that access to electricity does not completely solve the issue of access to energy in rural areas, but assuming that electricity is fundamental for rural development, this article will focus on various aspects of the access to and use of electricity in rural areas of mountains.