Mauricio Solano-Peralta
Trama TecnoAmbiental
Team Leader for Latin America and the Caribbean
Mauricio Solano-Peralta from Costa Rica has more than fifteen years of experience as a renewable energy and energy access engineer. Mauricio is an Industrial Engineer graduated from the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica and holds a master’s degree in environmental sciences with emphasis on energy resources from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. He is currently Team Leader at Trama TecnoAmbiental (TTA) for the Latin America and Caribbean Unit. He oversees business development, team, and project management for initiatives in the region, including technical assistance projects for rural electrification and mini-grid deployment currently in Haiti, Suriname, Brazil, Panamá, Colombia, Perú, and Bolivia.
Mauricio has extensive experience in renewable energy and rural electrification, both in diverse intervention areas and geographic regions. Prior to TTA, he worked for RMI as a Senior Consultant supporting the Community Energy Resilience Initiative in Puerto Rico, working on the implementation of solar and energy storage solutions to increase energy resilience in vulnerable communities. Previously Between 2016 and 2021 he worked for Infratec Ltd., were he led the design and managed the New Zealand – Maluku Access to Renewable Energy Support (NZMATES) program in Indonesia for the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAT). While based in Indonesia he led a team of energy access experts to provide technical assistance to improve and increase energy access in Maluku province in close collaboration with Indonesian national electric utility PLN and the Ministry of Energy. Work included assessment of past installations and projects, develop lessons and a new strategy to hybridize diesel generation in dozens of remote communities and islands with solar-powered mini grids, develop a mini grid lab in the university, develop pilot projects, among many other initiatives in this five-year and 7 M USD program. Other projects he conducted with Infratec include the development of a Practical Guide to the Regulatory Treatment of Mini grids for USAID and conducting a renewable energy access field scoping study for New Zealand Volunteer Service Abroad in rural communities of East Pomio, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea, among other project tasks in Vanuatu, Kiribati, and Cook Islands.
Before moving to New Zealand, Mauricio worked extensively throughout Latin America and the Caribbean with TTA. Some of his previous experiences include project management for the installation of 600 solar-home systems in the Dominican Republic for local NGO Fundación Surfuturo (2012 – 2013); conducted the final evaluation of Argentina’s PERMER rural electrification program financed by the World Bank (2013); and was lead author of the technology innovation outlook for renewable mini-grid technologies for IRENA (2015 – 2016). Mauricio has contributed to the EU PV Conference as presenter and evaluator, presented at several HOMER Microgrid Conference, OLADE’s Semana de la Energía, among other conferences and webinrs, acted as a reviewer for Elsevier’s Energy Policy journal, and contributes annually to the REN21 Renewable Energy Global Status Report, among other publications and conferences. He is fluent in English, Spanish, Italian, and Bahasa Indonesian.