Agartala First Solar & Strongest NE Su-Kam

External media — Business Standard / PTI (14 Mar 2014) · VarIndia · Energetica India (18 Mar 2014) · EFY Agartala / EFY NE first — 45 kWp off-grid at Ujjayanta Market, TREDA / Agartala Solar City; minister inauguration; further TREDA hospital & hostel orders. TREDA still lists the plant: Solar City page.

Energetica India screenshot — North East India: Su-Kam’s new market for Solar; first Tripura install at Ujjayanta Market, Agartala, 18 March 2014 — Archive scan — Energetica India, 18 March 2014: “North East India: Su-Kam’s new market for Solar” — first Tripura install at Ujjayanta Market Complex, TREDA / Agartala Solar City; inauguration with Smt. Bijita Nath and Sri Prafullajit Sinha.

First Solar in Agartala — Ujjayanta Market

Under my leadership as CEO & MD, Su-Kam put the first solar installation in Tripura on the roof of the Ujjayanta Market Complex in Agartala — a 45 kWp off-grid plant for TREDA under the Agartala Solar City Programme. March 2014. About a quarter of the market’s load. A public roof in the capital so traders and officials could see solar working, not waiting for a perfect grid.

The inauguration had the state’s Science, Technology & Environment minister and the municipal chairperson on site with our solar leadership. Press wire and trade sites carried it the same week. I have written the full operational story on KunwerSachdev.com — off-grid storage because in Tripura the grid could not be assumed. This page is the founder record of what that first roof unlocked for the whole North-East.

Strongest Company in the North-East

Agartala was not a one-roof stunt. Under my watch we became the strongest company in the North-East for solar installations. The Facebook archive still carries the Guwahati press line — largest solar back-up provider in North East India ( (North East Times / Meghalaya Guardian) — naming Assam Rifles and growing kilowatts. EFY’s Agartala coverage repeated the same claim: largest NE solar back-up footprint, Assam Rifles among the landmark jobs.

Strength meant a map, not a press release. We built a strong dealer network across the Northeastern states and aimed for presence in each district — not only to win the tender, but to give after-support and installation when a PCU or a street-light bank needed a human being who already lived in that state. Competitors could ship a crate. Few could answer a service call in the hills two weeks later.

Training Local People — Win-Win

We started training local people from those areas. That was a great win-win for the states and for the company. States got skills that stayed after our truck left. We got installers and service hands who knew the terrain, the language, and the customer. The same model shows up later in Assam Rifles sites — train local personnel for commissioning and upkeep — and in distributor stories such as Nagaland’s street-light programme. Agartala was where that NE operating system became visible on a city market roof.

Why MNRE Preferred Us

Here is what I want on record as CEO & MD: MNRE preferred Su-Kam compared to any other company because of strong product, people, presence and trained manpower. Product alone was not enough in the North-East. You needed people on the ground, a dealer in the district, and manpower you had already trained. That is why Solar City, hospital packages, street lights and paramilitary off-grid jobs kept coming to the same Indian manufacture-and-install stack — under my leadership.

Discovery — Sun Fuel

Discovery Channel’s Sun Fuel later put the Tripura hospital story on national broadcast — babies once delivered by candlelight, then solar-backed wards. Watch the documentary here. It is the same NE footprint that began with Ujjayanta Market and ran through hospitals, hostels and the Assam Rifles map.

Sun Fuel on YouTube · Discovery Channel · also on KunwerSachdev.com news

What Came After the Market Roof

EFY recorded further TREDA work in the same breath as Ujjayanta — cumulative hospital / PHC capacity across districts, girl-hostel plants in Agartala. The line later ran to Assam Rifles / Army off-grid solar across five NE states. Small market plant. Large precedent for who could install — and who could stay.

What I Want on Record

Kunwer Sachdev — CEO & MD of Su-Kam. First solar in Agartala / Tripura — 45 kWp off-grid at Ujjayanta Market (TREDA Solar City, March 2014; BS/PTI, VarIndia, EFY). Under that leadership Su-Kam became the strongest solar-install company in the North-East — dealer network across NE states, district-level install and after-support, training of local people (win-win for states and company). MNRE preferred Su-Kam for strong product, people, presence and trained manpower. Discovery Sun Fuel later broadcast the Tripura hospital chapter of the same map.

Verified Sources

FAQ

What was Su-Kam’s first solar installation in Agartala?

Under Kunwer Sachdev as CEO & MD, Su-Kam commissioned a 45 kWp off-grid solar PV plant at the Ujjayanta Market Complex in Agartala for TREDA under the Agartala Solar City Programme — Su-Kam’s first solar installation in Tripura. Business Standard / PTI and VarIndia covered it on 14 March 2014; Electronics For You followed mid-March 2014.

Is there external media?

Yes. Business Standard (PTI), VarIndia, Energetica India (18 March 2014 — “North East India: Su-Kam’s new market for Solar”), and two Electronics For You pieces cover the Ujjayanta / first Tripura–NE install. TREDA’s Solar City page still lists the 45 kWp plant at Ujjayanta Market. Discovery Channel’s Sun Fuel documentary later featured Tripura hospital solar work under the same NE footprint.

Why did Su-Kam become the strongest solar company in the North-East?

Kunwer Sachdev’s account: after Agartala, Su-Kam built the strongest NE solar-install presence — dealer network across the Northeastern states, district-level install and after-sales support, and training of local people. EFY and the Facebook archive also record Su-Kam as the largest solar back-up provider in the NE, citing Assam Rifles and growing installed capacity.

Why did MNRE prefer Su-Kam?

Founder account as CEO & MD: MNRE preferred Su-Kam over other companies because of strong product, people, on-ground presence, and trained manpower — not slides. Local trainees and district after-support made installations stick where competitors had no service footprint.

What about hospitals and Assam Rifles?

Press and founder essays record TREDA hospital / PHC orders (EFY cites ~600 kWp across 95 sites in eight districts) and later Assam Rifles / Army off-grid solar across Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram and Assam. Discovery’s Sun Fuel chronicled the Tripura hospital candlelight-to-solar story.

Historical Documentation Notice:
This article documents historical innovations and installations executed under the leadership of Kunwer Sachdev during his tenure as Founder & Managing Director of Su-Kam Power Systems Ltd. (1988–2018). Kunwer Sachdev exited the company in 2019 under the IBC process and holds no association, affiliation, or liability with Su-Kam Power Systems Ltd. or its subsequent management.

First Solar in Agartala. Then We Became the Strongest Company in the North-East.