Providing access to electricity in rural areas is a major challenge, especially in developing countries. Inefficient energy use and an unreliable energy supply with limited access not only has an adverse effect on economic productivity; more importantly, it also affects people’s quality of life and is having a strong impact on the environment at local (land degradation), regional (air, water and soil pollution) and global levels (climate change). This paper reviews distributed renewable energy systems and concentrates on energy services for electricity generation in Africa.