1. «Jan–Mar2016»
« Look Back »
Six Years of
ContinuingGlory
« Aid & relief »
Spirit of SunEdisonites
You are the power behind India's green future.
2. « Jan-Mar 2016 » 32 « Jan-Mar 2016 »
» f o r e w o r d f o r e w o r d «
Dear Colleagues,
January 25, 2016, marked the completion of six years of SunEdison’s
journey in India. I want to start by thanking you all for your support
and initiatives during our journey, which have made us the number
one solar energy player in the country. We built our first solar power
plant in 2010, which was a 1 MW plant in Gujarat and now in 2016
we will be building a 600 MW plant in Andhra Pradesh. SunEdison
led by Ahmad has given us the freedom and incredible support to
make our journey a phenomenal one till date.
Solar industry has come a long way since we started with costs
coming down from $4/Wp to $0.80/Wp! This has given us a great
leverage and is enabling solar to compete with thermal power in the
country. With India’s vision of 100 GW of solar and 75 GW of wind,
I am confident that we will continue SunEdison’s growth in India
and continue to build our company’s brand and reputation in the
country.
We have done some of the most innovative projects in India in
the past six years including the first-of-its-kind Narmada Canal
project in 2012, which is spoken about even now by none other
than the Hon’ble PM Modi. This project was a great showcase of
our innovative designs and engineering; coupled with excellent
execution due to our teamwork. We have raised more than $1B
of debt and equity for our solar plants in the last six years. We
successfully launched our Emerging market YieldCo last year raising
$2.2B with the projects we have built in the region in the last six
years including our team’s efforts in South Africa, Malaysia, Japan,
Philippines, Thailand and China.
Our initiative on Rural Electrification has also come a long way with
the setting up of more than 50 micro-grids. With the foundation we
built, SunEdison has created a new rural entity, SunEdison Frontier
Power, which will continue to transform the lives of people. I also
truly believe in our business model for Solar Water Pumps for
irrigation. While we have changed the lives of 3000 farmers as of
date since we started in 2012, my vision is to change the lives of all
the farmers in the country by replacing the 25 million electric and
diesel pumps with solar water pumps giving farmers the freedom to
irrigate during the daytime.
As we stand now, our focus will be to build the 2 GW of pipeline
projects we have in the country with the support of our business
development team, continue the innovation from our design and
engineering team, and set new benchmarks of execution excellence.
We have to also focus heavily on raising both equity and debt to
build these power plants. This will be my top priority for the year. As
our company is coming out of dislocation in energy markets globally,
SunEdison, India needs to not only be monetarily self-sufficient
but also make a positive contribution to the company overall. I
am confident that with our current efforts on raising equity from
various sources that is underway, we will be successful.
I again thank you all for your hard work and request you all to
continue your support in making SunEdison the best renewable
energy company in India. We don’t need to be the largest, but
everybody in the market should continue to admire SunEdison for
being the best at what we do.
Regards,
Pashu
3. « Jan-Mar 2016 » 54 « Jan-Mar 2016 »
» e d i t o r ' s s p e a k
The Editorial Team
Tarur S. Shankar
Priya Selvaraj
Venkat Rajagopalan
Ramachandran Swaminathan
Write to us with your
questions, comments or
suggestions at
GreenScene@sunedison.com
We look forward to hearing
from you!
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» c o n t e n t s
look back »06
Reminisce our glorious six-year-
long journey in the country
market play »09
We help you compare
monocrystalline and
multicrystalline wafers
aid & relief »10
We share how our colleagues
dealt with the recent calamity
that befell Chennai and
encourage you to send in your
valuable contributions
getaway »13
Visit Vedanthangal bird
sanctuary this weekend. Read
on to know why...
tech meet »14
Here's what you missed at the
recent InterSolar exhibit
power talk »15
Pashu's spectacular speech at
the ICICA annual conference
in the news »16
Ahmad's visit to India, SE's new
website and more!
wedding bells »18
Let's congratulate our colleagues
for their new journey
know your
colleague »19
Here's a little you didn't know
about Saravanan Damodharan...
« January–March 2016 »
This issue is printed on
recycled paper
Dear Colleagues,
Let me begin by wishing you and your loved ones a very happy and
prosperous New Year.
Here at SunEdison our reasons to celebrate this New Year are two-
fold. First and foremost, Happy Birthday SunEdison Energy India
Private Limited.
I take great pride in informing you that on January 25, 2016,
SunEdison India successfully completed its sixth year of operations.
Kudos to Pashu–not only for being the torch bearer, but also for rallying his endearing workforce. I should
also take this opportunity to thank every SunEdison employee for their valuable contribution that has
brought laurels to the Indian workforce.
Secondly, for SunEdison – this quarter has been swamped with the visit of our Global President and CEO,
Ahmad R Chatila, who visited Mumbai and Delhi. We continue to set benchmarks in the solar tariffs by
winning 500 MW of the NTPC order with the lowest tariff bid of Rs.4.63 pkwph, we witnessed further
lower tariffs with the recent Rajasthan bid touching Rs.4.34, pwkh.
However, all news is not that celebratory. Chennai along with the surrounding Districts of Kancheepuram
and Cuddalore had a miserable encounter with the monsoons and the city witnessed unprecedented
rains late last year, which resulted in massive flooding and destruction. People were displaced from their
homes, lives, and livelihoods were lost and many struggled for basic necessities.
Although some semblance of normalcy has returned, our work in rebuilding is far from over. Realizing
the imperative need for rehabilitating the affected people, SunEdison has set up an exclusive 'SunEdison
Tamil Nadu Flood Relief Fund' and the HR department spread the word internally encouraging
employees to contribute for furthering this humanitarian effort. SunEdison has also partnered with AID
India, an accredited NGO, actively engaged in relief and rehabilitation operations.
Editorially Yours,
T a r u r S . S h a n k a r
4. « Jan-Mar 2016 » 7
l o o k b a c k «
6 « Jan-Mar 2016 »
» l o o k b a c k
➻ Like cowboys we rode, conquering all we saw,
While others stood around gaping, dropping their jaw,
The “Best Solar Developer” award further cemented our name,
We were now a bunch on top of our game.
➻ Six years it’s been, SunEdites, six years extraordinary,
Six years it’s been of projects and people exemplary.
The strength in these years has indeed been in you all,
With each one of you standing up and always delivering tall.
➻ More years to come, SunEdites, keep shining bright,
Keep taking yourself and SunEdison to a greater height.
Forget not that each of you is a champ, each one a soldier,
Each day is an innovation, each day you get bolder.
High in gumption, in difficult times full of grit,
Fare strong, dear friends, smile and be of wit.
There are days that we will all frown; those days are meant to be,
WE'VE BEEN ON TOP THIS LONG, AND WE'LL REMAIN RIGHT THERE YOU'LL SEE.
“January, 2016 marked my 6th anniversary here at SunEdison. It makes
me immensely happy to share the fact that I am the second employee of
SunEdison, India. I now look back with pride and gratitude at the growth
of our company in India. SunEdison gave me so many opportunities to
explore my potential and sharpen my skills. In these six years I have
matured more as a professional in multiple dimensions. I am very
confident that we will continue to succeed because we are a nimble
organization that can rise to any challenge we may face. SunEdison has
a pleasant, multicultural environment and I work with brilliant people
from around the globe. I don't just see this as my workplace; it’s this
indescribable emotional connect that I’ll always cherish.”
– Priya Selvaraj
➻ In December, 2009, a new player entered the scene,
Scanning the Indian solar horizon, admiring the sheen,
With a big heart and insatiable appetite, Pashu was the One,
Setting up our organization in no time, it’s now the legend we know as SunEdison.
➻ This is the story of our journey since the early days,
Six years of operations, we have seen every phase.
It was in January, 2010 that we took our first small stride,
Little did we know we’d begun an awesome ride.
➻ With a virtual free hand to explore, the next few months were like a melodious song,
Operating out of coffee shops and residences all day along,
Priya, Vignesh, Rahul, Prasad, Ananth, Krishna, Nirad, Ram, Harish–
Some of the early few who helped carve SunEdison’s niche.
➻ The solar regime in India was new, and so were we,
But we had something that nobody else did–we NEVER let be.
Constantly trying to innovate, leaving no stone unturned,
If we didn’t know something–along the way we learned.
➻ Like a bunch of hungry souls, we scrambled and we fought,
Scouting, finding, and trying to win, each single megawatt,
Stepping in somewhere, and setting the path ablaze,
Setting the pace everywhere with SunEdison-craze.
➻ Barely had we set foot onto India’s shore,
When our fearless leaders exclaimed–‘Hey, we want more!’
So we set out into Thailand, South Africa, Philppines, and Malaysia–to name a few,
With a bunch of us who were no more than a motley crew.
➻ With “Simplifying Solar”, we spread our wings far and wide,
The Narmada Canal & GERMI projects helped swell our pride.
Meerwada happened, and we helped shape SunEdison’s new vision,
On a path of self-discovery–we started “transforming lives through innovation”.
➻ Transform lives we did indeed, everywhere we went,
Everywhere an opportunity existed, we pitched our tent.
Present in every geographic region, and in every segment there could be,
Be it solar water pump, rural, DG or Utility.
VINAY BHATIA
SixYearsofContinuing
GLORY
6. « Jan-Mar 2016 » 1110 « Jan-Mar 2016 »
a i d & r e l i e f «» a i d & r e l i e f
Spirit of
SunEdisonitesTHESPIRITOFSUNEDISONSHONETHROUGHTHEDECEMBERDELUGE.HERE’SANACCOUNTOF
HOW OUR TEAM STEPPED UP AND DEALT WITH THE ORDEAL…
POORNIMA CHANDRA VENKATESH
The generally
reassuring bright
blue Bay of Bengal
visible from the north
wing was nowhere
to be found and the
city looked grim and
unfamiliar.
A
bleak Thursday morning with the sun
nowhere to be seen. I found myself
desperately looking for any way to get to
work. The roads all flooded due to the unending
downpour, I somehow managed to convince an
auto driver who agreed to take me as far as the
roads allowed. We drove by the swollen Adyar
River, which had breached its banks, stopping
briefly to capture the sight in complete and
stunned silence. In a few minutes we entered
the flooded Greenways Road, which seemed
to have lost its lush greenery. My auto friend
carefully stayed in the middle of the lane, trying
to stay afloat. In a few minutes my ride came to
an abrupt end at the Chamiers Road intersection.
Adyar river was gushing through Chamiers road,
swirling past our office entrance, racing away
into a narrow bylane.
Realising there was no way to reach the office
except by wading through the water, I had to
let go of my ride. I paid the auto driver double
the amount and thanked him profusely for his
willingness to drive me this far. I stood there
mesmerized looking at this broad stream
gushing through a tar lane. Slowly and gingerly, I
made my way through the water with the laptop
bag slung over my shoulders safely and the
phone in hand to record this rather bizarre sight.
Houses on either side appeared like they grew
out of the water body. I soon felt safe on being
accompanied by some other travellers and the
hope of reaching the office in a few minutes kept
me going.
The generally reassuring bright blue Bay of
Bengal visible from the north wing was nowhere
to be found and the city looked grim and
unfamiliar. Three of my colleagues were in the
office, one evicted from his home the previous
night by the cops as the water started rising
and the other two marooned since they had
no way of reaching home. I was delighted to
find that there was cellular network and some
electricity. Together the four of us quickly
organized ourselves and started calling our other
colleagues and putting together a checklist
of needs. Soon a couple of more colleagues
trickled in and then a few more who were not
as affected by the disaster called up offering
support. As we began in right earnest the effort
of reaching out and roll calling our entire staff,
we realized one of them, Arun Vijayakumar,
was stranded in a hospital with his mother
and grandmother admitted to the Intensive
Care Unit.
Very soon more colleagues came in and soon
we started a group on WhatsApp reaching out
and expanding as we added more friends to
the safe list. A few of us knew at the back of
our minds that we had to reach Arun no matter
what. Ramesh was especially concerned; he
was also keen that we don’t undertake anything
risky since this was unprecedented and none of
8. « Jan-Mar 2016 » 1514 « Jan-Mar 2016 »
p o w e r t a l k «» t e c h m e e t
InterSolar 2015
InterSolar, the most important industry platform
for manufacturers, suppliers, distributors,
service providers and partners in the global
solar industry, was held at Bombay Exhibition
Centre, Mumbai from November 18–20, 2015.
Over the last seven years, the event exhibition
and conference both focused on the areas of
photovoltaics (PV) production technologies,
energy storage systems and solar thermal
technologies. The Indian edition of the global
event was inaugurated by Government of India’s
Joint Secretary, Ministry for New and Renewable
Energy (MNRE), Tarun Kapoor followed by
keynote address by Prof. Dr. Eicke R. Weber,
Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar
Energy Systems, Germany.
Companies from 12 countries presented their
products, solutions and services to around
11,000 international visitors–an increase of
20% over the previous year. Over 100 speakers
and 680 conference participants discussed
current industry topics as well as conditions
and developments in the areas of technology,
THE INDIAN EDITION OF THE INTERSOLAR EXHIBIT HIGHLIGHTED THE BOOMING SOLAR
CAPACITY OF THE COUNTRY. HERE'S ALL THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW...
ARPIT SRIVASTAVA
markets and politics in relation with the
booming solar capacity in India. Year 2016 is
projected to see installation of over 5 GW of
solar capacity, which would put India in the
4th place among the world's top solar markets.
Given its high level of solar irradiation, abundant
open spaces and steadily growing energy needs,
India is considered as one of the most attractive
sites for solar energy projects.
Amid the event's lively atmosphere, numerous
contracts and partnership deals took place. The
industry buzz was dominated by the record
low tariff of R4.63/kwh for 500 MW, won by
SunEdison at an NTPC auction, a few days before
the event. In addition, the 4th Indo-German
Energy Symposium conducted by giZ and MNRE
organized prominent side-events along with
INTERSOLAR Award 2015.
InterSolar, India positioned itself as the perfect
arena to discuss objectives and brought together
companies, investors and representatives of
science and politics to create the right conditions
for meeting key objectives.
Pashu inaugurates
ICICAannualconference
Chennai: The second International Conference
on Intelligent Computing and Applications-2015
was held at KCG College of Technology on the
5th and 6th of February. It was inaugurated by
Mr. Pashupathy Gopalan, President, SunEdison–
Asia Pacific in the presence of Dr. Elizabeth
Verghese, Chairperson, Hindustan Group
of Institutions.
Speaking on the occasion Mr. Gopalan stressed
on the benefits of Solar Energy and its potential
of solving the energy problems of humanity
in the near future. He also laid emphasis on
the Government’s efforts in encouraging solar
energy in the country and India’s leadership
role globally in harnessing renewable energy.
He highlighted the importance of working with
Institutions like KCG College of Technology for
industry-academy collaboration to further the
cause of research in renewable energy as these
collaborations would help provide the academia
with the latest technologies and best practices
in this field.
The conference featured keynote address,
special sessions by experts and peer reviewed
presentations from scholars such as Dr. BK
Panigrahi, IIT Delhi; Dr. Vitawat Sittakul, King
Mongkut's University of Technology, Thailand;
Dr. Sarathi, IIT Madras; Mr. V. Swaminathan,
Neyveli Lignite Corporation; Mr. Sivakumar,
Niteo (NEC of America) Technologies; Mr. Martin
Fiddler and Mr. Nico Decourt of Staffordshire
University, UK; and Dr. Swagatam Das, Indian
Statistical Institute, Kolkata.
Over 250 experts from India and abroad
attended the conference. The selected papers
from this conference would be published
in Springer series of Advances in Intelligent
Systems and Computing and other refereed
journals. The Research Brochure and the
Conference Proceedings were released by Mr.
Pashupathi Gopalan in the presence of Dr. Anand
Jacob Verghese, Director & CEO, Hindustan
Group of Institutions and Dr. T. Rengaraja,
Principal, KCG College of Technology.
ICICA annual conference held at KCG College
of Technology, which is a part of the Hindustan
Institution of Engineering Technology (HIET),
provided a platform for engineers, scientists,
industrialists, scholars and students to share
their research findings, exchange ideas, share
experiences, establish research relations and
find global partners for future collaborations.
WE GIVE YOU AN ACCOUNT OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT
COMPUTING AND APPLICATIONS-2015.
9. « Jan-Mar 2016 » 17
k n o w y o u r c o l l e a g u e «
Celebrating
SUNEDISON CONGRATULATES
OUR BELOVED EMPLOYEES
WHO RECENTLY FOUND THEIR
SOULMATESANDTIEDTHEKNOT.
When you realize you want to spend the
rest of your life with somebody, you want
the rest of your life to start as soon as
possible.
—When Harry Met Sally
LOVE
Vinay Bhatia weds Neeta
Siddharthan Subramanian weds Sowmya
Krishna Iyer weds Dhanya
Arun Srinivas weds Subhashini
» w e d d i n g b e l l s
16 « Jan-Mar 2016 »
MyTwinAffairs
What is your typical day like as an IT Manager
and what do you enjoy the most about work?
My usual routine involves managing the team,
fixing issues, understanding user experience
and prioritizing issues to be addressed by the
team. Working on the various complexities
involved in setting up infrastructure in different
countries and enforcing corporate IT standards
for the region has been an amazing journey in
itself. More than all that I love the fact that we
are not a very rigid set up; given that we have
flexible office hours, we get to interact with
colleagues across the globe and we get to travel
to multiple offices.
How has your journey with SunEdison been?
Early on we were on a dramatic growth
phase and I was single-handedly managing
the entire APAC region, working for more
than 12 -13 hours a day. Many offices were
managed remotely without local IT support
like a few offices in India, SA, Japan, Malaysia
THEY STARTED ON DECEMBER 13,2009 AND SEPTEMBER 03,2010...
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT SARAVANAN DAMODHARAN!
PAVITHRA SATHYAKUMAR
and Thailand. If it has to
be in one word I would say
“AWESOME!” I have loved
every moment at SunEdison.
SunEdison provides scope
for tremendous professional
growth. The opportunities
here have given a huge boost
to my confidence. Whenever
I have gone above and
beyond the call of
duty, whether it was
to provide late night or
weekend support, my
colleagues have always been
super appreciative.
Tell us about your family?
My love story began about a decade ago in 2003,
when I bumped into Sowmya, my better half and
the girl of my dreams. We were in a relationship
for about seven years before we tied the knot
on December 13, 2009. My second love story
began 9 months later, when I joined SunEdison
on September 03, 2010. Sowmya and I welcomed
our first son, Advaith, four months after I joined
SunEdison on 15th February, 2011. My second
child Arjun, was born on 02nd July, 2014. Both of
them are very naughty and keep me on my toes.
I make sure that time is spent with them in the
morning before school and in the night before
they hit the sack.
What are your tips to improve?
We would be more effective if we adopt better
administration of processes. . We need to
be globally aligned and focus on cost saving
methodologies as well. We also need to improve
our sense of ownership of processes and policies.
10. « Jan-Mar 2016 » 1918 « Jan-Mar 2016 »
i n t h e n e w s «» i n t h e n e w s
SUNEDISON'SSIXTHANNIVERSARY,OURALLNEWWEBSITEANDMORE!WE’D
LIKE TO HIGHLIGHT SOME OF OUR BEST MOMENTS.
Employee News
» Capturing the winning
moments of notching
up 500 MW order
from NTPC through an
e-auction.
(L to R) Avinash
Chandrashekar, Janani
Suryanarayanan, Alok
Nigam, Ved Tiwari
(CEO, India), Reena
Visahan, Pooja Iyer,
Gaurav Kawatra
» SunEdison, India launches its website. Visit: sunedison.com/en-in
» SunEdison's Cricketing Heroes
» The cheap thrills of flying in a no-frills airline—
gifting Srini his favourite food on the planet—
Indigo's upma.
Shiji Narayanan, Ramakrishnan Subramanian,
Siddarth Kumar, Snigdha Kala and cynosure of all
eyes in the centre—Srinivasan Viswanathan.