Alejandro Cisneros, MSc (SEDV)’10

Alejandro Cisneros graduated with his Master of Science in Sustainable Energy Development (SEDV) degree in 2010, through a former partnership between the University of Calgary and the Universidad San Francisco de Quito. His interest in renewable energy stemmed from undergraduate topics on wind and solar energy and an internship with an Austrian environmental facility.

Since graduating, Alejandro’s career has taken him across North America in various roles. After spending some of his career in the nonrenewable energy sector, Alejandro wanted to pursue a profession in the renewable energy sector and joined Sycamore Energy Inc., where he managed a team to design, install and commission solar photovoltaics (PV) systems in Manitoba. Using his experience from previous companies, Alejandro developed solar PV system plans, which eventually became the industry standard for Manitoba. This experience ignited Alejandro’s passion of the solar industry and he studied and researched new global trends and ideas and implemented them in his work.

Alejandro found success with this position and continued his journey back to Calgary where he designed solar PV systems for Alberta and Saskatchewan using the same high standards, that were implemented in Manitoba, to help the industry. Since then, Alejandro joined U.S.-based company, Solar Energy International (SEI), where he is now a PV technical trainer and curriculum developer, teaching solar power technologies to the Latin America community in the United States. On top of that, he is also currently a Large-Scale PV Systems Designer for SEI.

Alejandro’s experiences in both the nonrenewable and renewable energy sectors, and his graduate degree from the University of Calgary, were valuable in his journey towards specializing in the solar industry. Alejandro maintains a strong connection to the SEDV community as a student mentor. Through this role, he hopes to inspire those pursuing renewable energy careers.