Extension of electrical service to large rural populations in developing nations is a key requirement to realize human development goals set forth by international agencies. This paper presents the case for distributed generation in the form of microgrids, which should be the preferred path towards rural electrification in developing communities and a vital complement to expensive centralized grid expansion. The technical features of frequency and voltage control for distributed generation devices in a microgrid are discussed along with a presentation of their stability attributes. Computer simulation results and experimental results from a laboratory scale microgrid are also presented.