[devilbunny]

I mean, it's not going to turn these countries into rich places, but the article points out several ways that having power - even intermittent power - at a very low cost has improved people's lives significantly. They no longer have to walk miles to get drinking water; they drilled a well and put in an electric pump. Water towers are pretty straightforward tech; run the pump during the day until the tower is full, and the villagers can walk a couple of blocks to the spigot to get water. Charge spare phone batteries during the day. Any task that doesn't actually have to run 24 hours a day can take advantage of the power when it's there.