Energy Access: How Power, Equity, and Infrastructure Shape Global Development

When we talk about energy access, the reliable availability of affordable electricity for households, businesses, and public services. Also known as electricity access, it is the foundation for everything from healthcare and education to job creation and climate resilience. Over 675 million people still live without it—mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia. This isn’t a technical problem. It’s a design failure. We’ve built power grids for cities, but left behind the villages, the farms, the clinics that need power most.

Energy equity, the fair distribution of energy resources regardless of income, location, or identity is the missing piece. A mother in rural Malawi shouldn’t have to walk five miles for kerosene because her village’s grid is "not profitable." A small business owner in Bangladesh shouldn’t lose a day’s income because the transformer blew and no one shows up for a week. Infrastructure development, the planning, funding, and building of systems that deliver essential services has to stop being about big dams and high-voltage lines that only serve urban elites. It needs to include microgrids powered by solar, community-owned batteries, and pay-as-you-go systems that work for people, not just balance sheets.

What’s changing? Off-grid solutions, decentralized energy systems that operate independently of centralized power networks are no longer experimental. In Kenya, over 40% of new electricity connections are off-grid. In India, solar microgrids are powering schools and water pumps in villages where the state grid hasn’t reached in 50 years. These aren’t charity projects—they’re scalable businesses that create local jobs, reduce fuel costs, and cut emissions. The real barrier isn’t technology. It’s policy. It’s funding that favors big projects over local ownership. It’s the assumption that rural areas are too poor to be profitable.

You’ll find stories here about how communities are taking control—how clean energy is becoming a tool for gender equity, how aging power grids in Europe are being upgraded with smart tech, how climate finance is finally starting to flow to the places that need it most. This isn’t about future dreams. It’s about what’s working right now. And if you care about economic growth, public health, or climate justice, you can’t ignore energy access. It’s the first step in every other solution.