You could call it a perfect storm – the good kind. Solar powered devices like pumps, refrigerators and silk reelers known as ‘decentralized renewable energy’ are dramatically changing life for women in rural areas of India, while helping India move towards a sustainable, climate-friendly economy. And the new work opportunities they offer rural women could increase India’s GDP by an astounding 18% by 2025, according to McKinsey Global Institute.

About 87 million women are members of self-help groups created since 2011 under the government’s National Rural Livelihood Mission to empower rural women and reduce poverty. As people in rural areas – two-thirds of India’s population – increasingly choose solar power over the expensive, unrelialbe electricity from the state grid, women are among the biggest beneficiaries.