I have already written a few posts on how poor populations of Asia or Africa are leapfrogging from no electricity to renewables without going through the distributed fossil fuels electricity phase.
Electrical grids are expensive and so is coal. In countries with so much sun such as India, solar energies such as solar PV looks like the perfect fit as it is slowly but surely becoming the cheapest solution.
Grist offers a compelling post on how companies and NGOs are targeting people living in slums to help them have access to cheap, low carbon electricity.