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The document argues that electricity connections alone do not guarantee development benefits and proposes a bottom-up approach to electrification. It suggests three core strategies: utilizing bottom-up demand forecasting to match technology to consumer needs, linking electrification with local development projects to break the cycle of underdevelopment, and improving governance to ensure affordability and reliability. The authors emphasize that electricity planning must account for both conventional and latent demand to be effective.

The report examines the global growth of non-hydro renewables and the specific challenges this poses for developing nations. It identifies five market trends driving this growth and three primary challenges—technology/infrastructure, institutional arrangements, and pricing/equity—that regulators and utilities must address to transition to a modern grid.

The document highlights that wind power purchase agreements (PPAs) are cheaper than new coal and natural gas plants across most U.S. regions, even without federal tax incentives. It provides specific examples of solar PV projects outcompeting fossil fuels in states like Utah, Colorado, and Georgia. To sustain these trends, the text recommends increasing federal R&D funding, reforming tax incentives to be refundable, and establishing long-term regulatory certainty through carbon pricing or greenhouse gas standards.