What will be covered?
- To introduce the issue of energy access in rural areas and the importance of energy for the achievement of the MDGs.
- To outline the basic energy needs in rural areas and some of the barriers preventing increased energy access to rural populations.
- To provide some examples of policy instruments for improving energy services in rural areas.
- To outline business models and private sector participation schemes for increasing access to energy in rural areas.
Demand-side management (DSM) has been traditionally seen as a means of reducing peak electricity demand so that utilities can delay building further capacity. In fact, by reducing the overall load on an electricity network, DSM has various beneficial effects, including mitigating electrical system emergencies, reducing the number of blackouts and increasing system reliability. Possible benefits can also include reducing dependency on expensive imports of fuel, reducing energy prices, and reducing harmful emissions to the environment. Finally, DSM has a major role to play in deferring high investments in generation, transmission and distribution networks. Thus DSM applied to electricity systems provides significant economic, reliability and environmental benefits.