Conference article

Energy; inter alia; other structures; have been sine qua non to socio-economic development; enhancement of rural production and food security; improvements in healthcare and standards of living in human societies. Currently; while energy can help extricate rural societies in the developing world from poverty and augment development; they can only be realised through the implementation of effective energy policy approaches. Employing instruments from both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse data gathered from two solar PV projects’ sites in Ghana as case studies; the paper explores the interface between the policy approaches that have been used for the supply of electricity to rural Ghana; and the energy needs of these rural communities. The paper concludes that; due to the prevalence of poverty among rural societies in Ghana and other parts of the developing world; energisation and not electrification; is the optimal policy paradigm that will underpin rural socio-economic development and the adoption of renewable energy technologies (RETs).

Rural Electrification; Renewable Policy; Energisation