Seems one of the critical elements to a lasting, sustainable solution is to bring in private sector knowhow to deliver increasingly affordable renewable energy solutions where the economics work. One of the challenges you allude to is customers' ability to pay. If they're poor, we assume they can't pay anything. Yet they have cell phones. They might not be able to pay a big monthly bill to a utility, which might not even get that bill right, but it's likely they'd be able to pay prepaid blockchain-enabled micropayments, possibly using apps on those cell phones they already have.
This would get around the issue of how to finance traditional grid extension (big generation projects attached to big transmission lines) and would enable the rollout of commercially viable microgrids, for which the technology is already available.
Affordability for the consumer AND the supplier leads to a sustainable commercial relationship.
Hope I haven't stolen your next post! 😉
RE: A Real World Challenge for STEEMIT