Experience Report
From Stralsund to the Sun — My Solar Internship in India
Manish B.R., M.Sc. Renewable Energy & E-Mobility, Ram Taranga Solutions Pvt. Ltd., India, 4th Semester, SuSe 2026
It is funny how one idle evening of scrolling can turn into five months on a live solar plant.
From a LinkedIn scroll to a solar field
It began on LinkedIn. One evening I came across Ram Taranga Solutions, a solar EPC company, and their website lined up almost exactly with what I study in Stralsund. After talking it over with my internship coordinator, Prof. Gulden at HOST, I sent them a motivation letter by email — and that single, half-serious mail became five months on a live solar power project.
Documents, a one-way flight and a room near the office
The application was refreshingly direct: a clear motivation letter and an honest account of what I wanted to learn. Once it was confirmed, I arranged my Erasmus+ funding and had every document checked before I flew. Knowing the daily commute would matter most, I first found a small rental in Bengaluru close to the office.
When the drawings finally stepped into the sun
This was the heart of the stay. My project, fittingly titled “From Sunlight to Grid”, followed a 4.146 MW plant all the way from the first module to the 11 kV grid. I turned layout drawings into a consolidated bill of materials and cable schedule, worked through the techno-economics — the capital cost, the ₹3.03/kWh 25-year power-purchase agreement, the capacity factor — and learned PVsyst, simulating the array before a single module went up. From the office I was regularly taken out to the field, where I saw how a plant is actually built and kept running for a 25-year design life. Watching the drawings I had studied turn into steel, cable and silicon in the sun was the best kind of learning.
Chai, Hindi and the site crew
Everyday life was easy to love, beginning with the food, which was genuinely excellent. On site I picked up working Hindi to communicate with the crew erecting the plant, and it quickly made me feel part of the team rather than a visitor. Bengaluru's weather was some of the most pleasant I have known — sunny and warm by day, breezy and cool at night.The weekends that outshone the megawatts It was not all cable schedules. In the first two months I spent three days in Goa, and later, in the middle of the monsoon, three days in Coorg — its green hills and rain made it one of the most memorable trips of my life. Weekends like these are what turn an internship into an experience.
Tips for the next student
● Don't wait for a job posting — one honest motivation letter to a company you admire can open a door no job board will.
● Talk to your internship coordinator early; Prof. Gulden's advice shaped my entire stay.
● Get every document checked before you fly, and find accommodation near your workplace first — a short commute buys back time and energy every day.
● Say yes to the field: the classroom gives you the theory, the site gives you the reality.
● Keep a few weekends free to travel — you'll remember the hills of Coorg as long as the kilowatt-hours.
What remains of my summer in the sun
Looking back, my stay in India was far more than a mandatory part of my studies. I arrived wanting to understand how solar power reaches the grid, and I left having watched it happen from module to megawatt — with new PVsyst skills, real field experience, a working knowledge of how a plant is designed and costed, and a project that will run for the next 25 years. Of course the heat, and finding my feet in the first weeks, were part of it too — and that is exactly what made it a personal experience. If you are weighing a stay abroad, my advice is simple: send the email, pack your documents, and go.