Beyond Off Grid: Integrating Mini Grids With India’s Evolving Electricity System

India has ambitious targets for providing electrification to all its villages by May 2018 and 24×7 power to all households by March 2019. Part of this goal will be achieved by expansion of the national grid, as well as the amount of power that flows through it. But it will also require an expansion of off-grid electricity provided by private energy service companies (ESCOs). These companies, often small and medium enterprises operating in rural areas with unreliable or no grid electricity, provide a range of services from generation and distribution to user services and maintenance through mini-grids, often based on renewable energy (solar or biomass). This report addresses the policy, regulatory, and market infrastructure needed for these two sets of electricity providers- ESCOs and the national grid – to co-exist and collaborate to accelerate energy access.