Abstract: Access to energy services is essential to fulfill the basic necessities of life, along with economic growth and human development. The statistics on access to electricity in India stand at 66.3%, leaving one third of the population, or 403.7 million people without electricity. This is less than the global average of about 73%. Access to electricity provides direct and indirect social and economic benefits to the communities, which can be met through off grid or decentralized energy access systems which reach out to those areas where grid electricity is inaccessible or has not yet arrived. These off grid systems use renewable or hybrid energy sources which emit less or no emissions. In today’s world where emissions are a major cause for global warming, renewable energy sources must be explored to their full potential in India, where solar and wind energy hold great potential. Unfortunately, due to lack of systems in place to promote the off grid energy sector, it is delimited with regulatory, financial, institutional and technical issues which need urgent hearing. We have made an attempt to look into these issues and their solutions through extensive research and discussions with other concerned stakeholders.
Keywords: Policy Brief; Micro grids; Off grid energy access