Why the Power Buildout Will Mirror Cell Phones in Developing Nations

While developed nations are slowly replacing landline telephones with cell phones, developing countries completely skipped traditional telephone infrastructure and got their first communications via cellular. The reason is pretty simple — the cost of connecting every home with a landline is a lot higher than dropping a cellular base station every couple of miles.

The same idea comes up for the power grid and distributed solar in developing countries. Will developing countries that have not yet built out the power grid to much of their population completely skip the traditional power infrastructure and turn directly to distributed solar for power generation? Several analysts and executives say "yes," and that it'll happen sooner than we think.