The Unseen Hero: How India Lost Its Solar Dream to China
In 2015, when solar power in India was still synonymous with foreign brands, one Indian entrepreneur was quietly building what could have been the nation’s great leap forward. Kunwer Sachdev, the Inverter Man of India, believed that India should not just consume solar technology — it should create it, own it, and export it to the world.
With fire in his eyes, Sachdev unveiled two prototypes that year: a sleek high-frequency solar inverter to challenge China’s dominance, and a robust isolation transformer-based model that could run with or without batteries. These designs weren’t just machines — they were lifelines for villages in India, Africa, and the Middle East, where electricity was still a distant dream.
“Make in India, for the world,” he often said. And for a while, it looked possible.
A Vision Ahead of Its Time
Back then, solar inverters were the forte of U.S. design and Chinese manufacturing. Global giants like SMA, ABB, and Fronius dominated the space, while Chinese brands like Growatt and K-Star were pushing aggressively into new markets. No Indian company even dared to dream of competing.
But Sachdev did. Under Su-Kam Power Systems, he filed patents in 2015 and launched both grid-feed solar inverters and hybrid solar inverters with isolation transformers. More than 100 installations were tested and verified by dealers, who confirmed that the systems performed flawlessly. In 2016, Su-Kam even launched its own grid-tie inverters and showcased transformer-based solar systems capable of stabilizing power without batteries — a breakthrough for areas plagued by blackouts.
Su-Kam was also one of the first to complete mega-watt scale projects in India, including for Chennai Metro and Gurgaon Metro, at a time when home and office solar installations were virtually unheard of.
Su-kam Grid Tie inverter launched in 2016
A Dream Cut Short
Dealers from Afghanistan to Nigeria clamored for Su-Kam’s indigenous inverters. Exports rose. India, for a brief moment, was poised to set the standard in solar innovation.
Then came the storm. Legal disputes, financial battles, and the cold machinery of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) brought Su-Kam to bankruptcy in 2018. Sachdev, once celebrated as a pioneer, was branded a “thief” by the very institutions that should have championed him. His patents were left to gather dust. His labs fell silent.
And with that silence, India’s solar dream slipped away.
What India Lost
- Technological Leadership: The patents and prototypes that could have placed India at the forefront of solar innovation were abandoned.
- Export Dominance: Markets in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, once open to Su-Kam, fell into Chinese hands.
- Economic Independence: Today, 99% of India’s solar inverters are Chinese imports. Each one represents lost jobs, lost revenue, and lost pride.
- Rural Empowerment: Transformer-based hybrid inverters, perfect for rural and semi-urban grids, could have revolutionized villages. Instead, they rely on cheaper imports with poor service support.
- National Pride: The chance to prove that India could lead, not follow, in renewable energy was squandered.
Remembering the Forgotten Visionary
Videos from 2016 still exist — proof of more than 500 flawless hybrid installations. Proof of what could have been. Proof of a man who refused to accept dependence as India’s destiny.
But today, the solar inverters humming across India are nearly all Chinese. Each one is a reminder of the dream we let go, of the hero we failed to honor.
They called him a thief. But he was a visionary, a patriot. A man who wanted India to shine, not under borrowed light, but under its own.
The question remains: When will India remember?