Mattia Secchi
Postdoc
Department of Wind and Energy Systems
WIND PES EMP
Elektrovej
Building 329A Room 101
2800 Kgs. Lyngby
Danmark
Electric power systems Photovoltaic Generation Batteries Vehicle-to-grid Electric Vehicles
My PhD experience at Eurac Research/University of Trento, and Postdoc work at DTU revolved around the following three research questions:How to improve the cost-efficiency and reduce the emissions of local energy systems with photovoltaic (PV) energy and electric vehicles (EVs)?How should renewable energy communities (RECs) be implemented, to reach their target of reducing energy costs, fighting energy poverty, and pushing the integration of renewables in the system?How can EVs be used as a ”flexible resource” in low-voltage networks, to delay grid investments and help distribution system operators (DSOs) make a more efficient use of their assets. As such, I specialised in three research topics:Smart EV charging algorithms for grid services provision, cost- or emission-based charging, and V2G/bidirectional charging.Integration of centralised BESS systems in RECs, with a specific focus on their design, economic feasibility under different incentive schemes, and battery (BESS) control algorithms.Impact and mitigation EV charging and PV production on distribution grids, with a specific focus on the issues of transformer congestion and voltage stability During my PhD in Italy, I was mostly working on the Stardust and Trust-PV projects, funded by Horizon 2020 and regional EU funds, respectively. The underlying topic was the integration of electric vehicle chargers and PV systems in distribution networks, with the second project being more focused on PV performance and reliability, while the first was aimed at creating a full power flow model for the distribution network of the city of Trento, Italy. At DTU, I have served as the coordinator of the Danish demonstration for the FLOW project, in collaboration with the Danish EV charging services provider Spirii and Chemnitz's Technical University. The work we did has been an extremely valuable experience that allowed me to implement real-time control and coordination algorithms for EVs in the field. This task presented some difficult challenges that had to be solved in different ways compared to what I experienced in my research work. The experience has also taught me how to lead a technical demonstration, coordinate partners, create work plans, and enforce them. My PhD and PostDoc experience with project work is summarised below:FLOW: "Flexible Energy Systems Leveraging the Optimal Integration of EVs Deployment Wave", Horizon Europe (2022-2026), Grant 101056730, Coordination of the demonstration in Denmark, Deliverables Writing.3phase-insight: "Leverage Insights from 3-Phase Meter Data", EUDP, Grant ELF241-521149, Research Work/Deliverables Writing/Thesis supervision.AHEAD: "AI-informed Holistic EVs integration Approaches for Distribution grids", Horizon Europe (2024-2028), Grant 101160665, Proposal Writing/Deliverables Writing/Supervision of Research activities and PhD Students.Stardust: "Holistic and Integrated Urban Modelling for Smart Cities", Horizon 2020 (2017-2024), Grant 774094, Research Work/Deliverables Writing.Trust-PV: "Increase Friendly Integration of Reliable PV plants considering different market segments", Grant 952957, Research Work/Deliverables Writing.