Power grids don’t come cheap: It can cost as much as $300,000 a mile to string a set of high-voltage wires. This can be expensive even in the U.S., but in the developing world the price is often prohibitive to extend traditional grids to small rural communities. Over 1 billion people lack reliable access to electricity, some 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa alone. There are very real consequences to that lack of access, including poorer healthcare options and less economic opportunity.
