As the Secretary General of the United Nations and the president of the World Bank are calling upon countries to commit themselves to universal access to modern energy services by 2030, and international players such as the International Energy Agency, the EU, and ESMAP are building scenarios how to accomplish this, this article demonstrates the non-linear dynamics of scaling up rural energy access, drawing among others from over 70 energy access projects implemented by the EASE network of national energy and development NGOs in eight countries and on experiences combining microfinance and (clean) energy access. The article shows that scaling up rural energy access demands careful tuning of support to the business models of rural entrepreneurs, in which development finance has only a limited role to play. The article argues for market development approaches that take a programmatic approach, change their intervention model as the market matures, and build on smart use of the limited sector capacity. The ultimate challenge is how to down-tune ambitions and spending power of the development community to match the absorption capacity of rural markets and the reality of entrepreneurs on the ground. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.