The Inverter Man & Solar Man of India
I filed the most technology patents in India’s power backup & solar power industry.
102 filings across Su-Kam and Su-Vastika, 23 granted by the Indian Patent Office — and unlike anyone else in this industry, I’ve published every one so you can check it yourself on my verified patent record at SolarManOfIndia.com.
See the verified patent record → Read his story(power backup + solar)
by the IPO
invention
served
shipped
in India
A Lifetime of Firsts
I didn’t follow the industry. I helped build it.
While most of India’s power-backup business competed on price, I competed on engineering — shipping firsts that the world only caught up to years later.
India’s first DSP pure sine-wave inverter (2002)
When every inverter in India ran square or modified-sine, I set two R&D teams to build a pure sine-wave inverter on DSP — the technology the whole industry runs on today.
India’s first plastic-body inverter — CHIC (2003)
I reimagined the inverter from a dangerous metal box into a safe, designed product. India Today called it the “Innovation of the Decade.”
I created the “Home UPS” category (2005)
Within a year of our launch, the entire Indian industry renamed its inverters “Home UPS” — a category I created and everyone adopted.
India’s first 3-phase solar system (2006)
A 3-phase solar PCU built and deployed across 50+ installations — six years before the government called 3-phase solar a priority.
India’s first solar IoT / remote-monitoring platform
Before “WiFi” was a household word, we were monitoring and controlling solar systems remotely — IoT for power, built in India.
World’s first solar-hybrid UPS (2009)
My SolarPack DC 120 merged solar MPPT, grid-tie and battery management on one controller — the architecture Tesla, Enphase and Growatt now ship as “hybrid inverters,” built 15+ years earlier.
India’s first Solar Online UPS (2015)
A 30KVA, 360V, 3-phase Online UPS with an MPPT solar controller built directly inside it — something no one in India had done.
India’s first grid-feed hybrid inverter (2017)
The first grid-feed hybrid inverter built and patented in India — years before the technology became the global standard.
India’s first touchscreen Solar PCU — Brainy
India’s most intelligent solar Home UPS: a touchscreen solar PCU with MPPT and Wi-Fi monitoring, and a modular “add solar later” design.
The Complete Record
More firsts — and where to verify each one
Every claim below links to the post where I document it, so you can read the full story and check it yourself.
India’s first DSP pure sine-wave inverter
Pure sine-wave output on DSP, when the market ran square and modified-sine.
Read the story →India’s first plastic-body inverter — CHIC
Safe PC-ABS body; India Today’s “Innovation of the Decade.”
Read the story →First inverter company recognised by DST
The first inverter company recognised by India’s Department of Science & Technology.
Read the story →Created the “Home UPS” category
A category the entire Indian industry adopted within a year.
Read the story →India’s first 3-phase solar system
3-phase solar PCU, 50+ installations — years ahead of policy.
Read the story →World’s first solar-hybrid UPS
SolarPack DC 120 — MPPT + grid-tie + battery on one controller.
Read the story →India’s first Solar Online UPS
30KVA, 360V, 3-phase Online UPS with MPPT built in; lab-tested.
Read the story →India’s first grid-feed hybrid inverter
First grid-feed hybrid inverter built and patented in India.
Read the story →India’s first solar IoT / remote-monitoring platform
Remote monitoring & control of solar systems before “WiFi” was a word.
Read the story →First inverter company to export from India
The first in the inverter industry to start exporting — eventually to 90+ countries.
Read the story →The Record That Stands Alone
patents I filed in one industry — the highest by any single founder in India’s power backup & solar power sector
No other company or founder in India’s power backup and solar power industry — Luminous, Microtek, V-Guard or Exide — has a documented patent record at this scale. And unlike the counts others merely claim, I’ve published every one of my filings with its application number, so anyone can verify it on the Indian Patent Office register.
Explore the full verified record →Recognition Already Earned
From the Bharat Shiromani to Hurun’s Most Respected
Two decades of awards I received for innovation, quality, exports and entrepreneurship — including honours from the Government of India.
Bharat Shiromani Award
Conferred by Dr. Balram Jakhar; an honour previously given to Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama.
India Today — “Innovation of the Decade”
For the CHIC, India’s first plastic-body inverter.
National Award for Quality Products — Govt of India
Presented at Vigyan Bhawan with PM Dr. Manmohan Singh as Chief Guest.
ESC Sectoral Award — Highest Exports
Consumer Electronics, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India.
Innovation for India Award
Marico Innovation Foundation — for an alternative, reliable, affordable power model.
Business Superbrand
Among India’s most trusted business brands (also Consumer Superbrand 2009).
ELCINA-EFY Award for Excellence in R&D
Selected by Government and industry experts from 100+ entries nationwide.
ISA Technovation Award
Solar/energy category — felicitated by World Chess Champion Vishwanathan Anand.
Entrepreneur of the Year
Entrepreneur India Awards.
Asia’s Most Promising Brand
WCRC, with KPMG India as process advisors.
National Quality Excellence Award — Most Innovative Company
Power Backup industry.
Hurun’s Most Respected Entrepreneurs
Highest honour by the Hurun Report for contribution to Indian solar and power backup.
“The Solar Man of India” — India Today
The title that captured a national legacy in solar power.
Landmark Solar & Power Projects
Where the technology met the ground
Real installations — utility-scale solar, defence and border posts, villages and hospitals — each documented and linked to its source.
PEC Chandigarh — rooftop solar (~1–1.3 MW)
An SECI grid-tied rooftop plant reported as the largest at any educational institute in India; featured on Discovery’s Sun Fuel India.
Read the project →Agartala — North-East India’s first solar city
A 45 kWp off-grid plant anchored NE India’s first solar city; 70,000+ households received solar lanterns, 90+ hospitals solar-powered.
Read the project →Indian Army & Assam Rifles — 1.3 MW off-grid
Off-grid, battery-backed solar across 18 sites in Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram and Assam — replacing diesel at the frontier.
Read the project →India’s first solar-powered border fencing — BSF
Designed and executed India’s first-ever solar-powered border fencing and outpost project on the Indo-Pak border.
Read the project →Dr APJ Abdul Kalam lit up two villages with us
Twenty days before he passed away, Dr Kalam joined Su-Kam to electrify two villages with solar.
Read the project →Lohia Awas Yojana — solar for 40,000 rural homes
100-watt DC solar systems for homes with no grid power — lights, a fan and mobile charging for 40,000 households.
Read the projects →Malawi — first combined wind + solar plant
Wind generators plus PV charging a shared battery bank electrified five remote African villages — first of its kind.
Read the projects →SECI, Chennai Metro, IFFCO, Arunachal & more
SECI 2 MW first allocation, Chennai Metro 1 MW (2013), IFFCO HQ, Arunachal 600 kW grid-feed, and projects across all 7 NE states.
Read the projects →Delhi’s first hotel running on a lithium battery
A 200 KVA lithium Battery Energy Storage System at a Delhi hotel — part of Su-Vastika’s path toward 1 MW storage.
Read the project →Africa & Asia — schools, streets and villages
2,000 solar street lights in Gabon, 35 remote schools in Rwanda, plus projects in Afghanistan, Namibia and South Sudan.
Read the projects →Project capacities and dates are as documented in my posts and the press coverage they cite; the PEC Chandigarh plant was reported as both 1 MW and 1.3 MW, so I show it as ~1–1.3 MW.
The People I Backed
I didn’t just build products — I built the people building the next generation
Some of India’s most important energy companies today were founded or led by engineers I gave their first chance at Su-Kam. This is the legacy that outlasts any single patent.
Jagdeep Chauhan
Founder, EAPRO Global
A chip salesman from Roorkee I gave his first chance — he went on to invent India’s DSP sine-wave inverter at Su-Kam, and founded EAPRO Global, now serving 10 million users across 20+ countries.
Read his story →Venkat Rajaraman
Founder & CEO, Cygni Energy
He left Nvidia to join Su-Kam in 2007 and led our FPGA inverter R&D. Today he runs Cygni Energy — one of India’s leading battery-storage companies, with a 4.8 GWh assembly plant in Hyderabad.
Read his story →Narender Singh Negi
Head of R&D & Director, V-Guard Industries
The quiet inventor who helped build India’s 360V MPPT solar technology and the DSP Solar PCU at Su-Kam — and rose to lead R&D as a Director at V-Guard Industries.
Read his story →Dr Kushant Uppal
Founder, Intellizon
The engineering mind behind Su-Kam’s lithium solar street lights, who went on to build his own clean-energy venture, Intellizon.
Read his story →Sanjeev Saini
Co-Founder, Inteli Energi
My first R&D engineer in 2001 — the sole founding member of a department that didn’t yet exist. He rose to CTO & Director of Su-Kam over 18 years, with 15+ patents granted, and went on to co-found Inteli Energi Technology.
Read his story →R. Sivarajan
Co-Founder, Inteli Energi
An IIT-Delhi engineer who headed research teams at GE before developing advanced power-electronics technology at Su-Kam — today a co-founder of Inteli Energi Technology.
Read his story →Sunil Badesra
Sungrow India
One of the engineers who got their start in the industry through Su-Kam — now part of the solar inverter business at Sungrow India.
Read his story →Srinivas Pilla
African Power Ventures
From Su-Kam to building power ventures across Africa — carrying Indian energy know-how to new markets, including Nigeria.
Read his story →Ishan Sehgal
Cornell · Whirlpool
One of the young people whose path ran through Su-Kam on the way to Cornell and a global career at Whirlpool.
Read his story →The founders of Smarten Power Systems
Arun Bhardwaj · Rajnish Sharma · Ravi Dutt
Three Su-Kam alumni who went on to build Smarten Power Systems — now a recognised name in India’s inverter and solar industry.
Read their story →Vikas Garg
Su-Kam 3-phase inverter & Solar PCU
A fresh electronics graduate a friend sent me. A multinational hired him away — then he came back for our culture of innovation, and is credited for Su-Kam’s 3-phase inverter and 3-phase Solar PCU technology, the kind India hadn’t built before.
Read his story →The Case for National Recognition
A contribution I believe India should honour
My work sits at the centre of two national priorities — energy access and Make-in-India manufacturing. I’ll let the record make the case:
I pioneered India’s solar-hybrid technology
The architecture behind today’s hybrid inverters — I built and patented it in India in 2009, years before global players commercialised it.
The highest patent filer in the industry
102 filings across two companies — the largest, and only fully verifiable, single-founder patent record in India’s power backup and solar power sector.
I brought power to millions
Home UPS, Solarcon and affordable solar retrofits put reliable power into millions of Indian homes, schools and businesses — and exports to 90 countries.
I built genuine domestic R&D
The first real in-house R&D unit in India’s power-backup industry, where I trained a generation of Indian power-electronics engineers.
First in our industry backed by Temasek (2006)
In 2006 the Reliance-Temasek fund invested about US $10 million (₹45 crore) in Su-Kam — we were the first Indian inverter and solar company to attract investment from Singapore’s sovereign investor, and it was one of the largest private-equity investments in India’s power-backup sector at the time. (Business Standard)
Recognised on a global stage
Interviewed by the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Indian innovation and intellectual property — alongside features in Forbes India and India Today.
After four decades of invention, manufacturing and energy access — and a patent legacy unmatched in my industry — I believe this work deserves to be recognised among India’s foremost contributions to solar power and power backup.
Latest From the Blog
Technology & innovation — in my own words
Recent essays on the engineering behind power backup and solar, and where the industry is heading.
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