Patiala Shivalik 50 kW School Solar

External media — Business Standard (10 Aug 2013): “We have installed a 50-Kw solar power plant at Shivalik Public school in Patiala, which has brought down the dependence of the school on electricity from the grid to zero.” Same 50 kW line in Energetica India. Field essay: KunwerSachdev.com.

The Patiala Anchor — 50 kW at Shivalik

Shivalik Public School, Patiala. About 50 kW of solar. Grid-tied. Under my leadership as CEO & MD, Su-Kam commissioned a plant the Hindustan Times Patiala edition called first-of-its-kind for that city — and the first solar grid-tied project we undertook in Patiala. Business Standard put the hard number and the outcome on the record: dependence on the grid brought down to zero.

That is the Facebook-archive spine. The story did not end when the ribbon photo was taken. A school that stops buying daytime power is a proof-of-concept the next principal can visit. Punjab’s dailies — Jagbani, Arth Prakash, Amar Ujala and more — carried the install. Energetica repeated the 50 kW line next to our larger education work at PEC Chandigarh. External media exists. Use it.

Not One School — A Continuous Series

We did so many such projects for schools and colleges that it became a continuous series — not a CSR one-off and not a single tender win. Campuses needed labs that did not die in a cut. They needed systems designed, manufactured, installed, and maintained by people who understood both the inverter and the roof.

The megawatt end of that education line — Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh ~1 MW — sits on its own founder page. Gates Institute and other college/school installs lived in the same pipeline. Patiala’s 50 kW is the press-clean school example that shows the series was already real in Punjab by 2013.

We Trained the People Who Could Build Them

Hardware without manpower is a brochure. We trained so many people for planning and installation of these school and college systems — site survey, structure, DC/AC design, commissioning, O&M. That is how a continuous series is possible. You cannot scale campuses if every job needs the same three engineers from Gurugram. Training was the product behind the product.

Manufacture and Install — Under One Indian Roof

Here is the claim I will put on the record as CEO & MD: Su-Kam became the first Indian company to manufacture and install this class of school and college solar systems in India — power electronics designed and built here, then installed by teams we trained, not merely panels traded and bolted by someone else’s contractor. That combination — factory + field — is what let a Patiala school and a Chandigarh engineering college both run on Su-Kam engineering in the same era.

Third-party wires name the installs. The “first to manufacture and install” framing is my founder account of where the industry stood when we were building that series. Read it with the press, not instead of it.

What I Want on Record

Kunwer Sachdev — CEO & MD of Su-Kam. Shivalik Public School, Patiala — ~50 kW, grid-tied; HT / Business Standard / Energetica. Then a continuous series of school and college projects. Training for planning and installation. First Indian manufacture-and-install claim for that class of campus systems under my leadership. Documented in external media, Facebook archive, KunwerSachdev.com, and the PEC companion blog.

Verified Sources

FAQ

What was the Shivalik Public School solar project?

Under Kunwer Sachdev as CEO & MD, Su-Kam commissioned a ~50 kW solar power plant at Shivalik Public School in Patiala, Punjab. Business Standard and Energetica reported it brought the school’s dependence on grid electricity to zero. The Facebook archive quotes Hindustan Times (Patiala) calling it the first solar grid-tied project the company undertook in Patiala.

Was this a one-off school job?

No. Kunwer Sachdev’s account is that Shivalik sat inside a continuous series of school and college solar projects — including larger institutional work such as the ~1 MW grid-tied plant at Punjab Engineering College — with Su-Kam training many people for planning and installation of that class of systems.

What does ‘first Indian company to manufacture and install’ mean here?

As founder recollection under his CEO & MD leadership: Su-Kam was the first Indian company in this space to both manufacture the power-electronics stack (inverters / solar PCUs) and execute turnkey installation of such school and college systems in India — not only import panels and subcontract. Press of the era documents specific installs (Patiala 50 kW; PEC 1 MW); the ‘first’ framing is his first-person industry claim.

Where is this documented externally?

Business Standard (10 Aug 2013) names the 50 kW Shivalik plant; Energetica India repeats the 50 kW line alongside PEC; Facebook archive preserves the Hindustan Times Patiala wording and names Punjab dailies (Jagbani, Arth Prakash, Amar Ujala). KunwerSachdev.com field essays cover the education-campus series.

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.

50 kW at Shivalik Patiala. Then Schools & Colleges Became a Continuous Series.