On the 2025 Revers Center for Energy, Sustainability and Innovation trek, Tuck students explored how Costa Rica has built one of the world’s most renewable energy systems. While there, Revers Center Fellows engaged with organizations across the public and private sectors—from Organikos Coffee to Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, the country’s state-owned electricity provider.
Fellow Carlos Solano T’26, who helped organize the trek, reflects on the hands-on experience.
What made Costa Rica such a compelling destination for an energy industry trek—and how did seeing the system up close change your understanding of the country’s energy story?
From 2015 to 2022, Costa Rica reached an impressive 98% use of renewable energy sources for power generation. In 2015, then Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres, worked on the historic 2015 Paris Agreement at COP21. These efforts not only made Costa Rica a regional leader in clean energy but also made the country a global model for decarbonization and sustainability. To this day, Costa Rica continues its commitment to clean energy, which has made it a compelling destination for an energy and sustainability trek. We wanted to explore how the country was able to generate electricity using 98–99% renewable sources.
Seeing the system up close, I gained a better understanding of the true magnitude involved in building the infrastructure, developing the technology, securing the funds, and fostering the cooperation required among the government, private sector, and local communities. A country may have favorable geography and resources, but it must still execute and take advantage of those resources. Costa Rica has been able to do this successfully.
How did your public and private sector visits and interactions deepen your learning in ways a classroom alone couldn’t?
The visits and interactions gave us the opportunity to see energy assets and companies up close and to observe firsthand how they operate and what it takes to keep them running. At the power plants, for example, we met with professionals on site who explained in detail how the plants operate and the challenges they face. This hands-on exposure provided a real-world understanding of how these technologies work and the cost of keeping them operating smoothly.
At the geothermal power plant, we saw the layout of the facilities—the extensive piping, the multiple buildings, and the many workers required to run the entire operation. We came to understand the true scale of the geothermal power plant and saw how unique each facility can be. In the future, as business leaders, we will have a stronger understanding of the many factors involved in managing these types of energy assets and companies. These experiential learning opportunities make us better problem solvers and, ultimately, more effective leaders.
A recurring theme on the trek was the tension between preservation and growth. How did seeing Costa Rica navigate cultural identity, sustainability, and economic development shape your perspective as a future business leader?
Seeing how Costa Rica navigates the tension between cultural and environmental preservation and economic growth made me reflect that, as a future business leader, I must also balance the business aspects of my work with human and cultural considerations. What stood out to me during this trip was how deeply committed the business leaders we met were to long-term sustainability and environmental preservation.
They understood that economic success comes from appreciation and protection of the environment and culture. Instead of separating the two, these leaders integrated preservation and economic growth, following Costa Rica’s long-standing belief and practice that long-term economic success comes from protecting the environment and culture. Balancing such essential elements is never easy, and it is a lifelong process of learning and improvement, but I believe the perspective I gained during this trek will allow me to be a more impactful and conscious business leader.
Looking ahead, how do you see this trek—and your work with the Revers Center—shaping your post-Tuck career?
This experience with the Revers Center will be invaluable for my post-Tuck career because it has given me the tools to be a more decisive, purposeful, and conscious leader. In addition to learning more about the technical side of the clean energy industry, I was able to better analyze the challenges that both the public and private sectors face as they work to decarbonize and protect the planet while remaining commercially successful.
From this experience, I learned that there must be purpose and a true benefit to society in the work being done, and that business success on its own neither amounts to much nor lasts long. The balance between the environment, culture, and economic growth is essential. It was truly inspiring to see how leaders in both the public and private sectors not only demonstrated mutual respect but also shared a common purpose: protecting the climate in ways that improve living conditions for people around the world.
There is the business aspect, which is certainly important, but there is also a greater purpose—and that is what resonates most with me. I learned many things during this trek, but above all, I will remember that my work and efforts must be centered on a purpose that contributes to a better world for everyone.
Carlos Solano is a second-year student at Tuck focusing on energy and tech. Before Tuck, Carlos worked as controls systems design engineer in the advanced nuclear energy space, helping in the development of Small Modular Reactors (SMR) at GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear and at NuScale Power. He holds a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. At Tuck, he is a fellow at the Revers Center for Energy, Sustainability and Innovation and is a co-chair of the Hispanic American Student Association (HASA). Outside of the classroom, Carlos enjoys exploring the Upper Valley, playing soccer, and traveling.
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