An Overview of Rural Electrification in China: History, technology, and emerging trends

Rural electrification is the cornerstone in poverty alleviation and is widely recognized as the first step of modernization. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) database, over the last two decades, hundreds of millions of people have attained modern energy access. However, in 2011, there are still nearly 1.3 billion people, almost one-fifth of the world?s population, who have no access to electricity, and more than 75% of them are living in developing Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.