Identifies the options for providing modern and improved renewables-based energy to low-income rural areas, with special emphasis on the productive uses. In the five countries represented - Botswana, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Zambia and Zimbabwe - the contributors focus on the advantages of a decentralized approach to energy delivery, the role of income-generating activities in attracting modern energy services to rural areas, and the barriers as well as opportunities that exist in the promotion of renewable energy technologies.