Twenty Days Before He Died, Kalam Lit Up Two Villages With Us
Fakirpura and Chanduahaar, Tirwa, Kannauj — 250 kW off-grid. I was in the audience. I did not shake his hand. The full story lives on KunwerSachdev.com.
By Kunwer Sachdev · CEO & Managing Director, Su-Kam (at the time) · Founder 1988–2018 · Updated September 28, 2026 · Historical era: 7 July 2015
Backlink — full founder essay: Twenty Days Before He Died, Kalam Lit Up Two Villages With Us — KunwerSachdev.com. This solarmanofindia page is the same Kannauj record rewritten for this site: tender, mini-grid vs home kits, inauguration day, Kalam’s subsidy line, team pride, and the verified press list. Read the long version there.
7 July 2015 — What Happened
On 7 July 2015, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam travelled to Fakirpura in Kannauj district, Uttar Pradesh, and inaugurated a 250 kilowatt off-grid solar mini-grid that Su-Kam had built under my watch as CEO & MD. Twenty days later, on 27 July, he died. It was one of the very last public engagements of his life — and to the best of the available public record, the first solar mini-grid in India inaugurated by a former President.
Before we arrived, Fakirpura and Chanduahaar had nothing: no grid, no poles, no switches, no lights after sunset. Not 1965 — 2015, in a parliamentary constituency held by Smt. Dimple Yadav, then MP and wife of then Chief Minister Sh. Akhilesh Yadav.
What a Mini-Grid Is — And Why It Mattered
A mini-grid is a small generation-and-distribution system that runs independent of the national grid. At Kannauj: 250 kW of solar feeding a battery bank, then low-voltage lines into homes, street lights, pumps, schools and clinics. A real electricity grid — for two villages instead of two cities.
Three rural models, as I wrote on KunwerSachdev.com: grid extension (promised for decades; poles never came); standalone home systems (our 40,000 Direct-DC / Lohia Awas architecture — lights and a fan per house, not shared pumps); mini-grid — central plant + local network for productive and communal load. In 2015, private Indian inverter companies executing tendered mini-grids at 250 kW were almost unheard of. Kannauj put Su-Kam in that small group.
The Contract — Specs on the Record
UPNEDA commissioned Su-Kam to design, install and commission the plant. Budget about ₹6.15 crore (civil, electrical, mechanical, distribution, household wiring). Off-grid was not a style choice — there was nothing to tie into.
| Parameter | Record (press + founder essay) |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 250 kW off-grid solar + battery storage |
| Villages | Fakirpura & Chanduahaar / Chanduahar, Tirwa, Kannauj |
| Households | 450 (~2,000 people) |
| Cost | ~₹6.15 crore |
| Annual generation (designed) | ~3.65 lakh units |
| Also powered | 60 LED street lights; 15 submersible pumps (Jagran / essay); Su-Kam flyer also lists water pumps + ~1000 panels, 3-phase AC |
| Schedule (flyer) | Completed 2 months ahead of schedule (Su-Kam marketing claim) |
| Inauguration | 7 July 2015 — Dr. Kalam; Akhilesh Yadav & Dimple Yadav present |
Su-Kam Company Flyers
Before the ribbon: our announcement creative named the 250 kWp UPNEDA mini-grid, the date, and the three dignitaries — with photos of the array, pump site and inverter room. After the day: the inauguration flyer put Dr. Kalam at the control panel with Sh. Akhilesh Yadav and Smt. Dimple Yadav in frame, and a highlight strip (400+ households, 60 street lights, pumps, ~1000 panels, 3-phase AC, two months early). Where the flyer rounds down on homes or pumps, this page keeps Jagran / essay counts (~450 homes, 15 pumps) as canonical.
What the Press Did Not Cover — And What I Will Not Pretend
Building that plant was not mainly an engineering problem. It was a scope problem. Adjacent villages demanded inclusion. They were not in the tender. We said no. There was pressure — the kind anyone who has delivered rural infrastructure in India will recognise. Su-Kam did not yield. We delivered the villages, load and budget the tender named, on the schedule set by a former President’s calendar. The full texture of that pressure is on KunwerSachdev.com.
I did not meet Dr. Kalam personally that day. No handshake. No photograph of the two of us. I sat in the audience at a state event. Most founders would finesse that. I will not. What I have is what I heard from the dais: he wanted Indian solar to grow without leaning forever on government subsidy — cheap enough and well-engineered enough to be the obvious choice. In 2015 that sounded almost contrarian. The destination he pointed at is the one the industry later travelled.
“He gave us his second-to-last working day. The least we owed him was a working plant.”
Press — Jagran, ET Energyworld, Business Standard
The Hindi cutting headlined सुकैम का सोलर पावर प्लांट and carried the same spine: Su-Kam under NREDA / state schemes, 250 kW mini off-grid for Fakirpura and Chanduahar, ~450 houses, 60 LED street lights, 15 pumps, schools and health centre, inaugurated by Dr. Kalam with Akhilesh Yadav and Dimple Yadav. Same window in English: ET Energyworld / TNN — “Kalam opens solar power plant” (8 July 2015 update; Fakirpura / Chandu Har), Business Standard, BS / IANS, Ummid / IANS.
After 2019 — Honest Limit
In July 2022, on the anniversary of Kalam’s death, Sh. Akhilesh Yadav publicly asked that the Kannauj plant be repaired, saying it had fallen into disrepair ( EQ Mag / PTI; The Print). I do not know the technical reasons after Su-Kam’s role ended, or after the company’s insolvency in 2019. What I do know: in 2015, when he cut the ribbon, it worked.
What I Want on Record
Kunwer Sachdev — CEO & MD of Su-Kam · Solar Man of India. 7 July 2015: 250 kW off-grid mini-grid at Fakirpura and Chanduahaar, Kannauj — UPNEDA / Su-Kam — inaugurated by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. I was in the audience. Full founder essay: KunwerSachdev.com.
Verified Sources
- FULL ESSAY — KunwerSachdev.com: Twenty Days Before He Died, Kalam Lit Up Two Villages With Us
- Business Standard (7 July 2015) — Kalam inaugurates mini solar plant in Dimple Yadav’s constituency
- Business Standard / IANS (7 July 2015) — Kalam, Akhilesh inaugurate solar power plant
- ET Energyworld / TNN (8 July 2015) — Kalam opens solar power plant
- Ummid / IANS (7 July 2015) — 250 KW solar power plant in Kannauj inaugurated
- Dainik Jagran press scan — सुकैम का सोलर पावर प्लांट (Kannauj mini-grid / Kalam)
- Su-Kam flyer — pre-inauguration 250 kWp UPNEDA Kannauj announcement
- Su-Kam flyer — inauguration day (Kalam, Akhilesh, Dimple) + project highlights
- Archive screenshot — ET Energyworld headline page
- EQ Mag Pro / PTI (2022) — Repair solar plant inaugurated by Kalam in Kannauj
- The Print / PTI (27 July 2022) — same repair request coverage
- Companion — 40,000 Direct-DC homes (different architecture)
- Facebook Archive — UPNEDA / Lohia Awas press
Related
- Full essay — KunwerSachdev.com
- 40,000 Direct-DC homes (standalone kits)
- Punjab 100% solar DC house
- Sunway street light — The Hindu 2016
- Facebook Archive
FAQ
What was the Kannauj mini-grid?
Under Kunwer Sachdev as CEO & MD, Su-Kam designed, installed and commissioned a 250 kW off-grid solar mini-grid with battery storage for Fakirpura and Chanduahaar (Tirwa, Kannauj district) under a UPNEDA contract — about ₹6.15 crore, 450 households (~2,000 people), 60 LED street lights, 15 submersible pumps, schools, training centre, healthcare and shops. Designed annual generation about 3.65 lakh units.
Who inaugurated it, and when?
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam inaugurated the plant on 7 July 2015, with then UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav present (Dimple Yadav’s constituency). Kalam died on 27 July 2015 — twenty days later. Founder account: to the best of the public record, the first solar mini-grid in India inaugurated by a former President.
Did Kunwer Sachdev meet Dr. Kalam that day?
No. His founder essay is explicit: he was in the audience at a state event — no handshake, no photograph together. He records what he heard from the dais, including Kalam’s push for Indian solar that could stand without perpetual subsidy.
Where is the full founder essay?
On KunwerSachdev.com: “Twenty Days Before He Died, Kalam Lit Up Two Villages With Us” — mini-grid vs home-system architecture, tender-scope pressure, inauguration day, the team’s quiet pride, and later (2022) reports of plant disrepair after Su-Kam’s operating role ended.
Is there Hindi press?
Yes. A Dainik Jagran clipping headlines सुकैम का सोलर पावर प्लांट and names the 250 kW mini off-grid system, Fakirpura and Chanduahar, ~450 houses, 60 LED street lights, 15 pumps, schools and health centre, and inauguration by Dr. Kalam with Akhilesh Yadav and Dimple Yadav. English: Business Standard / IANS and ET Energyworld (“Kalam opens solar power plant”), 7–8 July 2015.
What do the Su-Kam company flyers show?
Two contemporaneous Su-Kam creatives: a pre-inauguration announcement (array, pump site, inverter room; Kalam + Akhilesh + Dimple named for 7 July 2015) and a post-inauguration flyer with Kalam at the control panel beside Akhilesh Yadav and Dimple Yadav, plus Su-Kam’s own highlight strip (400+ households, 60 street lights, water pumps, ~1000 panels, 3-phase AC, completed 2 months ahead of schedule). Press/Jagran figures (~450 homes, 15 pumps) remain the canonical household/pump counts on this page; flyer roundings are company marketing.
How is this different from the 40,000 UP homes project?
Different architecture. Lohia Awas / 40,000 homes used standalone Direct-DC home kits. Kannauj is a central mini-grid with village distribution — one plant, shared productive loads (pumps, street lights, institutions).
Historical Documentation Notice:
This article documents a historical project under the leadership of Kunwer Sachdev as Founder & Managing Director of Su-Kam Power Systems Ltd. (1988–2018). He exited in 2019 under the IBC process and holds no association with Su-Kam or its subsequent management. Household/pump counts follow Business Standard / IANS / Dainik Jagran and the founder essay on KunwerSachdev.com; Su-Kam flyers are company marketing (including “2 months ahead”). Later plant condition after 2019 is not claimed as Su-Kam operating record.
