Mini-hydro is also being deployed to provide power on modest scales, with far less environmental impact than mega-scale projects of the past.

Late last year, Nature published an article discussing decentralized power generation: "For the 2 billion people without electricity, micropower could let them leapfrog the grid. Just as countries that had never seen an expensive copper telephone network jumped straight to mobile phones, so decentralized generation technologies offer the chance for them to leapfrog the grid and prosper. That was the take-home message from a meeting of energy companies, researchers and policy makers in Paris last week. The meeting concluded that an array of micropower technologies, from small gas turbines to solar panels, have matured sufficiently to provide electricity to developing countries, even in remote rural areas."

Another article continues: "In developed countries, disruptive technologies can find tremendous difficulties to mature. Solar energy is a good example. Its penetration in the base of the pyramid will allow solar energy to achieve all sorts of improvements necessary to displace, in the near future, the present sources of energy used in developed countries. In spite of what most managers think, the base of the pyramid is a huge market for disruptive technologies. Because of their capacity to satisfy the needs of the base of the pyramid and, in short, create value, many technologies can find fertile ground that will enable them to overcome the deficiencies inherent in any new technology."

I agree with Al that such technologies have global market implications. The 2 billion people without electricity at the BOP represent a huge opportunity for renewable energy developers and suppliers, provided the right financing is available for the upfront costs. (Does anyone know of examples of partnerships between microfinance groups and renewable energy companies?) Such technologies will also be an enabler for many of the other products and services that companies will develop for emerging markets. In the short run, their use will likely diminish the expensive, unhealthy and dangerous use of kerosene to light many rural homes. In the long run, as increased R&D and economies of scale finally reduce the cost per kilowatt hour of renewable energy below fossil fuels, the same technologies that finally found a footing at the BOP may go a long way to overcoming the developed world's expensive, unhealthy, and increasingly dangerous energy addictions.

I'm pretty sure this is being run as a nonprofit, but it's a provocative way to get solar power to more household consumers while limiting consumers' upfront cost, not unlike renting furniture and appliances to lower-income folk in the developed world. I wonder what else could be provided using this model?

In response to JP's post, another cool project facilitated by microfinance here. probably not on the scale of energy production he envisioned when he asked about renewable energy companied, but still provocative