The link between poverty alleviation and energy provision makes it critical to consider both when looking toward rural development. Availability of local energy and farm power is fundamental to intensifying agriculture, and agricultural development is essential to poverty alleviation.

There is a growing consensus among policy-makers that energy is central to reducing poverty and hunger, improving health, increasing literacy and education, and improving the lives of women and children. Energy pervades all aspects of development – it creates healthier cooking environments, extends work and study hours through the provision of electric light, provides power in remote regions to drive cellular communication equipment, and increases labor productivity and agricultural output by making mechanization possible.