Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Federal University of Santa Maria, respectively in 1972 and 1976; specialist in electronic instrumentation at the Osaka Prefectural Industrial Research Institute, Japan, in 1975; MSc in HVDC Transmission Lines from the University of Manchester, UMIST, England, in 1981; PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of London, Imperial College, England, in 1984; Diploma of Member from the Imperial College of the University of London in Electrical Engineering since 1984 and Post-Doctorate in alternative energy sources at the Colorado School of Mines, USA in 2003. Worked as an electrical engineer for operation and maintenance at the State Electricity Company (CEEE) ), RS, Brazil in 1973-1974. He was a visiting professor at the Colorado School of Mines in the Engineering Division, USA in 2002-2003. He has published more than 200 articles in international/national congresses and magazines; he published a first book in Portuguese entitled Harnessing Small Sources of Electric Energy (Editora da UFSM, 1st. ed. 1999, 2nd. ed. 2010, 3rd. ed. 2014). He is also co-author of 13 international books in CRC Press, John Wiley and Springer.