Isabel Cancela de Abreu is an Environmental Engineer with an Executive Master on Sustainable Energy Systems. Her experience in renewable energies started at APREN, the Portuguese Renewable Energy Association, where she was Director of the Technical Department. Isabel was afterwards invited to work as Policy Advisor at EREC, the European Renewable Energy Council.

Later on, she decided to take advantage of her national and international experience to found ALER, the Lusophone Renewable Energy Association, where she now works as Executive Director. In addition, Isabel was also a social volunteer in Niassa – Mozambique and did an internship at Grameen Shakti in Bangladesh to learn about their microcredit and Solar Home Systems programs.