How decentralised energy is reshaping rural livelihoods through women-led enterprises

India has made significant progress on electrification. By most official accounts, nearly every village is connected to the grid. But connection is not the same as reliable and affordable energy for livelihoods.

In rural areas, outages remain frequent, voltage fluctuations damage equipment, and long hours without power are still prevalent. A woman running a grain processing unit waits for electricity before she can begin her day. A tailor loses productive hours to an unannounced outage. A woman selling cooked food in the evening shuts early because both her light and her stove depend on a supply that stopped coming at six. For households, this is an inconvenience.

In many cases, unreliable power supply and dependence on diesel directly translate into lost income, physical strain and stalled enterprise growth and each of these is a loss that accumulates. The grid, in this sense, has reached rural India yet consistent and reliable supply remain a challenge. What arrives at the end of the line is often intermittent and unpredictable.

Electricity tariffs, combined with the cost of managing outages through inverters, batteries or diesel generators, make energy one of the more unstable components of running a small enterprise. When supply fails, diesel fills the gap, expensive, effort-intensive and uncertain. The cost of running a business quietly rises.

This unevenness sits within a larger transition. India is expanding renewable energy at scale to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels and exposure to global price shocks. Yet the transition does not move evenly across users. Large installations grow quickly; access at the last mile remains uneven. The question is not only how much energy is produced, but who can rely on it.

Across rural India, this gap is carried disproportionately by women. They run a large share of local enterprises, processing, retail, tailoring, food preparation, small-scale farming activities that sustain household incomes. When energy is unreliable, these enterprises shrink in time and output. Managing this uncertainty, arranging fuel, tracking outages, adjusting schedules, becomes part of daily work, adding to an already stretched workload. The constraint is not just economic; it limits growth and keeps businesses operating below their potential.

From schemes to systems

India is not short of schemes supporting decentralised renewable energy. Programmes led by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy aim to solarise agriculture, expand rural electrification and enable livelihood applications. PM-KUSUM supports solar irrigation pumps. PM Surya Ghar focuses on rooftop solar. Biomass and waste-to-energy initiatives complement this effort.

The gap, however, is not availability but access. For a woman running a small enterprise, these schemes often remain out of reach, requiring information, upfront investment and navigation of systems that are complex without support. Those most affected by unreliable energy are often the last to benefit from the transition.

Bridging this gap requires more than technology deployment. It requires institutions that can connect schemes to users, align solutions with actual livelihood needs and ensure that systems continue to function over time. In Uttar Pradesh, this is being attempted through decentralised initiatives to strengthen renewable energy and support financial empowerment of women.

Such approaches do not aim to introduce parallel systems, but to work through existing ones. Women’s self-help groups are helping to identify enterprises, assess energy needs and facilitate adoption of solar solutions. Because these networks are already embedded within communities, they reduce the distance between scheme and access.

At the same time, local capacity is built by training women as solar entrepreneurs who can support basic maintenance and awareness, ensuring that systems remain functional beyond installation. Reliable energy alters how enterprises operate, how time is used and how income is generated.

The effects extend beyond the enterprise. When income becomes stable, households plan differently. Spending on education and health improves. Women report greater say in financial decisions and stronger recognition within their communities. These shifts follow directly from the ability to run an enterprise without constant interruption.

Where this becomes visible

In Unnao, Shiv Kumari Devi runs a grain processing unit with her husband. After the death of their son, managing operations became significantly harder. The unit ran on diesel, and arranging fuel was a recurring demand on both time and money. When diesel was delayed or unaffordable, the machine stood idle and customers went elsewhere.

There was little room to absorb these disruptions. With solar powering the unit, that pressure has lifted. The machine now runs when needed, not when fuel is available. Costs have declined, customers have returned and the business has regained continuity.

In Barabanki, Pushpa Devi cultivates a small farm where irrigation depended on a diesel pump. Fuel availability dictated when water could be drawn, often disrupting crop cycles and reducing yields. With a solar-powered pump installed under the PM-KUSUM scheme, irrigation is no longer uncertain. Water is available when required, input costs have reduced and planning has become possible again. The land did not change. The constraint did.

In Gorakhpur, Chanda Devi’s general store operated within the limits imposed by outages and high electricity costs. The shop could not stay open consistently, and earnings fluctuated as a result. After installing solar, operations stabilised. The shop began running through the day without interruption, working hours extended and footfall increased.

“After installing solar, my shop began running without interruptions and my work became more stable. With longer hours and more customers, my income almost doubled,” she said.

As her business stabilised, Chanda began stocking products made by women in nearby villages. What was once a single outlet began functioning as a small local marketplace, linking producers and buyers within the village economy.

Where this leads

India’s energy transition is often measured in capacity, megawatts added, targets achieved. These matter. But its durability depends on what happens at the level of use.

The gap is rarely the absence of schemes. It is the distance between what exists and what can actually be used. Closing that distance requires attention to how energy interacts with livelihoods, and to the institutions that make access possible.

An enterprise that runs through the day because it is no longer waiting for fuel. A farm where irrigation follows need, not availability. A shop that stays open into the evening and begins to support others around it.

Scaled across places, these are not small shifts. They are what a reliable energy transition looks like in practice.

Shishir Kumar Singh is director of climate and strategy at PCI India, which implements the Decentralised Renewable Energy for Women’s Economic Empowerment (DEWEE) initiative under the Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihoods Mission. Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth.