This paper: 1) reviews international commitments to RET use and rural development and examines the link connecting RETs with rural development; 2) looks at RET options and potential benefits and deployment challenges; 3) investigates, using a number of case studies, how RET have been used to promote rural development and how innovative project/programme design can help overcome some of the barriers inherent to RET deployment in the market; 4) provides a synthesis of case study findings; and 5) presents conclusions and recommendations.