Nagaland 1000 Solar Street Lights

External media — EQ Mag Pro (18 March 2017): Su-Kam helped Nagaland install over 1,000 solar street lights; distributor Mr. Zhatou installed 955 lights in 30+ villages; MNRE first-prize date 24 Jan 2017 in the same story. Founder record: the prize went to Su-Kam — the only prize MNRE gave to any company.

What EQ Mag Put on Record

Nagaland is a mountainous state. When the sun went down, many villages went dark — and the old street lights did not save them. Under my leadership as CEO & MD, Su-Kam’s authorised distributor Mr. Zhatou worked with the local renewable-energy department under Director T. S. Angami to put stand-alone solar street lights across the hills.

EQ Mag Pro wrote it plainly on 18 March 2017: over 1,000 solar street lights helping Nagaland go solar; Zhatou’s field count at 955 lights in more than thirty villages; Su-Kam’s SUNWAY line — panel, lithium (or lead-acid) storage, internal charge controller, dusk-to-dawn LED. The same piece records an MNRE first prize on 24 January 2017 for maximum solar street lights nationally.

Here is what I want next to that date, in my own words as CEO & MD: we got the prize from MNRE. It was the only prize MNRE gave to any company. Not a participation certificate shared around the industry — the recognition for that street-light scale sat with Su-Kam. That is why Nagaland is not a footnote; it is proof MNRE saw what we had built in the hills.

Not a One-State Stunt — A Footprint

I do not want this blog read as a single Northeast press clipping. Under my leadership, Su-Kam was already doing solar all across India — and we had become the company present across India, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Street lights in Nagaland sat on the same map as street lights and rural homes in Gabon, telecom solar across seventeen Afghan provinces, school electrification in Rwanda, and grid-feed roofs such as PEC Chandigarh. The Northeast paramilitary chapter — Assam Rifles — proved the same engineering could survive remote terrain. Nagaland proved the street-light product and the distributor model could survive remote villages.

Street Lights. Grid-Feed. Storage. Training.

The brand we were building was not one SKU. It was three legs of the same solar business under my watch: solar street lights for nights without a feeder; solar grid-feed for campuses and institutions that could sell or displace daytime units; solar storage systems — batteries and PCUs — so off-grid and weak-grid sites still had hours after sunset. Nagaland is the street-light proof. PEC and the college series are the grid-feed proof. The Assam Rifles and Africa off-grid jobs are the storage-and-remote proof.

Su-Kam Solar SunWay solar streetlights promo — inbuilt Li-ion, MNRE approved, dusk-to-dawn — Archive creative — Su-Kam Solar SunWay: inbuilt Li-ion, Govt. of India MNRE approved, dusk-to-dawn operation. Same product family EQ Mag named for Nagaland.

None of that scaled without training people. EQ Mag’s Nagaland story is a distributor story: Zhatou loyal for years, carrying installations village to village, spreading knowledge so villagers and officials could choose solar. That was the Su-Kam method under my leadership — manufacture in India, train the channel, let a local partner own the last mile. We were not dropping crates and flying home. We were creating a brand strong enough that MNRE’s only company prize in that lane came to us.

Kunwer Sachdev demonstrating Su-Kam solar street light at Su-Kam Solar Business Partners Meet — Archive photo — Su-Kam Solar Business Partners Meet: demonstrating the solar street-light fixture to the channel. Training and brand, not just a crate shipment.

When Solar Still Cost Too Much

Remember the price curve. In the mid-2010s, solar was still very high compared with what boards and households later took for granted. Many competitors waited for modules to get cheap. We did not wait. We built street lights, grid-feed plants and storage packs, trained distributors from Nagaland to Lagos to Kigali, and took Indian-engineered systems into markets where the alternative was diesel or darkness. That is why the MNRE prize for this street-light scale matters to me: it is evidence we were commercialising solar before it became the easy buy — and that the ministry recognised Su-Kam for it.

What I Want on Record

Kunwer Sachdev — CEO & MD of Su-Kam. Under that leadership Su-Kam put roughly 955–1,000 solar street lights into Nagaland villages (EQ Mag Pro, March 2017). Su-Kam received the prize from MNRE — the only prize MNRE gave to any company (founder record; first-prize date in EQ Mag: 24 Jan 2017). The same company was already present across India, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, training people and building a brand in solar street lights, solar grid-feed and solar storage when the cost of solar was still very high. Nagaland is one Northeast proof of that map — not the whole map.

Verified Sources

FAQ

What was the Nagaland solar street-light project?

Under Kunwer Sachdev as CEO & MD, Su-Kam’s authorised distributor Mr. Zhatou installed about 955 solar street lights across more than 30 villages in Nagaland for the state renewable-energy department (Director T. S. Angami). EQ Mag Pro (18 March 2017) covered the story and framed it as over 1,000 solar street lights helping Nagaland go solar.

Is there external media?

Yes. EQ Mag Pro published “Su-kam helped Nagaland by installing over 1000 Solar street lights” on 18 March 2017, naming Su-Kam’s SUNWAY product line, distributor Mr. Zhatou, Director T. S. Angami, and the ~955 lights / 30+ villages count. It also records an MNRE first prize dated 24 January 2017 for maximum solar street lights nationally.

Who received the MNRE prize?

Kunwer Sachdev’s account as CEO & MD: Su-Kam received the prize from MNRE — and it was the only prize MNRE gave to any company. EQ Mag’s 2017 piece covers the Nagaland programme and the 24 January 2017 MNRE first-prize date in the same story.

Why does this matter beyond Nagaland?

Kunwer Sachdev’s account: Nagaland was proof that under his leadership Su-Kam was already present across India — and exporting the same solar stack into Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia — training people and building a brand in solar street lights, grid-feed plants and solar storage when the cost of solar was still very high.

What products and training were involved?

EQ Mag describes Su-Kam SUNWAY solar street lights (lithium and lead-acid variants) with integrated panel, battery and charge controller. The field model was distributor-led: train a loyal partner (Zhatou), let him sell and install, and stand behind the brand so a hilly state with weak grid nights could light villages without extending every feeder.

How does this sit next to Gabon, Afghanistan and PEC?

Same era of footprint: Gabon street lights and rural homes; Afghanistan telecom solar across provinces; India grid-feed roofs such as PEC Chandigarh; storage and off-grid PCUs for remote sites. Nagaland is the Northeast street-light chapter of that map.

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.

955 Street Lights in Nagaland. Proof We Were Already Everywhere.