Development Marketplace was Early Investor: Small Scale Renewable Power

Great New York Times story going viral today on how villagers around the world are finally getting electricity in their homes with solar devices.  With this tiny bit of power, they can charge cell phones, get news, study at night, check market information for crops, and stop using carbon and so much more.  This is one area where in the past 10 years, Development Marketplace competitions identified and funded early stage projects, so we should all be proud.  Elisabeth Rosenthal does a good job here identifying the financial obstacles to scaling up and making these micro-devices much more widely available.  Let us resolve to tackle them in 2011 so there will be light!