The REN21 Steering Committee oversaw the elaboration of the REN21 issue paper
Energy for Development - The Potential Role of Renewable Energy in
Meeting the Millennium Development Goals and released it during the UN
World Summit in New York in September 2005. The report was produced and published by the Worldwatch
Institute.
The report identifies renewable energy options that are currently in wide
use in some regions and that are now ready for large-scale introduction
in many areas of the developing world. Through 26 case studies, the
report cites biogas, small hydro, solar, wind, ethanol, and biodiesel,
among other technologies, as viable options for poverty alleviation in
developing countries.
As their cost has declined and their reliability has improved,
renewable energy technologies have often emerged as more affordable and
practical means of providing essential energy services. Although the
strongest renewable energy growth has been in grid-connected power
systems and liquid fuels for transportation, several technologies are
well-suited to providing modern energy services for low-income people.
Scaling up a broad portfolio of renewable energy options can make a
major contribution to achieving the Millennium Development Goals,
concludes the report.
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GNESD, the global network of energy research
institutes on Energy for Sustainable Development, published in 2006 a report on
poverty reduction and tried to answer the question: 
Can Renewable Energy make a real
contribution? The answer is affirmative: The role of RETs for poverty alleviation varies among countries, but is
generally found to be important and contrasts with the low level of
development and priority assigned to it. The study underlines the high
potential for local job generation through system manufacture, operation
and maintanance, and renewable resource extraction and processing.
In the more
general report The Energy Challenge for Achieving the
Millennium Development Goals, published in 2005 by UN-Energy,
renewable energy is also considered part of the solution to enables
environmental sustainability.
The report presents specific recommendations for linking production and access to energy services to poverty reduction programmes and national MDG strategies and campaigns. Leading agencies for that
first publication of the collaborative UN effort were Worldbank and UNDP.
The Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE) recently published a collection of
best practises on what renewable energy can achieve in developing countries. The publication highlights some project examples from ARE members which demonstrate their activities in the field and exhibit replicable solutions. It also emphasises that private companies can become a key driver in the field of rural electrification. Many companies have now demononstrated their capabilities by implementing successful rural renewable energy projects throughout the world. However, a crucial precondition is an enabling legal and financial network.
