Enhancing Energy Security in Rural Tanzania: Examples of Decentralized Rural Energy Approaches from India ( Source- IDSA, Author- Ian Shanghvi)
Indian Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Narendra Modi Official) Source- IDSA Author- Ian Shanghvi The Government of Tanzania is making creditable strides to scale up its renewable energy sectors. One of the initiatives includes preparation of the Scaling-up Renewable Energy Programme (SREP) Project document in 2013. The aim is to promote clean energy for domestic end-uses like cooking and lighting. A spectacular feature of the SREP Project is its particular consideration to scale up rural electrification. However, related efforts and strategies condone the contribution of rural communities to achieving this goal. Most of the attention and support is focused on the private sector as the core driver of rural electrification. Examples from rural India reveal that rural communities are actually the lynchpin of rural electrification. Drawing from these examples, this paper argues that decentralized el