Profile

I am passionate about energy systems and sustainable energy technologies and about closing the gap between theoretical research and practical demonstrations. And I don’t just pursue this professionally: the beauty of working with electric vehicles, photovoltaic systems and distributed energy technologies is that I can test and experience these concepts firsthand. Ultimately, I am driven by the vision of making energy systems more sustainable, resilient, flexible, and user-centric.

I hold a master (2007) and a PhD (2011) in electrical engineering from the University of Genoa, Italy. Since 2012, I have been working at the Technical University of Denmark, where I am a professor in E-mobility in Energy Systems. My research interests include power system integration studies, wind and solar data analysis, demand-side and electric vehicles management, and distributed energy resources modeling.

I teach two courses at master level on wind integration and distributed energy technologies and is involved in several research projects, including the EU projects AHEAD, EV4EU, and  FLOW.

Between May 2022 and June 2025, Mattia has been leading the E-mobility and Prosumers Integration section. The section undertakes internationally leading research and teaching in the field of EV technologies, charging infrastructure and flexibility, advanced power electronics, battery energy systems and hybrid AC-DC systems. The research in this section is multidisciplinary and at its peak it was formed by 34 researchers from 16 different countries.

Competences

Electric vehicle technologies; Battery energy systems; Electric power distribution; Wind and solar generation; Power system operation and control; Active distribution networks; Prosumer technologies; Hybrid power plants; Energy management systems; Electric vehicle charging management.

Applications

Grid integrated electric vehicles; Smart and autonomous charging; Vehicle-to-grid; Fast-charging stations; Charging patterns; Hybrid power plants; Behind-the-meter applications; Electric vehicle battery degradation; EV clustering and control.

Research involvement: currently working in 6 EU and national projects (previously involved in 21 research projects).

• AHEAD (Internal project leader). Horizon Europe funded project. Project scale: 13 M€; Internal budget 2.0 M€; 06/2024 – 05/2028.
• SBEES (Internal poject leader). EU Interreg project. Project scale 2 M€; internal budget 0.3 M€; 06/2024 – 05/2027.
• GREAT (project advisor). Total Energies funded project. Project scale 3.5 M€; internal budget 0.6 M€; 06/2024 – 05/2028.
• FLOW (Internal project leader). H2020 funded project. Project scale: 10 M€; Internal budget 0.5 M€; 07/2022 - 06/2026. https://www.theflowproject.eu/
• EV4EU (Internal project leader). H2020 funded project. Project scale: 9 M€; Internal budget 1.2 M€; 06/2022 - 11/2025. https://ev4eu.eu/

PhD student supervision (ongoing):

- David Eduardo Menchaca Santos, "Charging infrastructure planning towards the widespread adoption of electro-mobility in road transport," Ph.D. in E.E. connected to the SBEES and AHEAD projects, DTU, 04/2025 - 03/2028 (supervisors: M. Marinelli, F. Pastorelli, P. Bach Andersen).

- Julian Marius Mittag, "Electric Vehicle Flexibility in Distribution Grid Planning," Ph.D. in E.E. connected to the AHEAD project, DTU, 04/2025 - 03/2028 (supervisors: M. Marinelli, M. Secchi, H. Ziras).

- Pietro Zunino, "Provision of Grid Services through Aggregation of Electric Vehicles in Distribution Networks," Ph.D. in E.E. connected to the GREAT and EV4EU projects, DTU, 01/2025 - 12/2027 (supervisors: M. Marinelli, J. Engelhardt, T. Unterluggauer).

- Tommaso Reschiglian, "Hybrid Energy Solutions: Synergies between EV Charging, Battery Storage, and Grid Services," Ph.D. in E.E. connected to the AHEAD project, DTU, 01/2025 - 12/2027 (supervisors: M. Marinelli, K. Sevdari, J. Engelhardt).

- Mathias Botoft Hansen, "Development of EV aggregator scheduling tool accounting for ancillary service stacking and asset uncertainty through AI tools," Ph.D. in E.E. connected to the AHEAD project, DTU, 01/2025 - 12/2027 (supervisors: M. Marinelli, P. Pediaditis, T. Unterluggauer).

- Leonardo Ferhati, "System analysis for absolute sustainability of electric vehicles in the energy systems," Strategic Ph.D. in E.E. funded by DTU, 11/2024 - 10/2027 (supervisors: M. Marinelli, F. Pastorelli, A. Laurent).

- Kristoffer Laust Pedersen, "Bidirectional charging technologies: control, aggregation and testing," Ph.D. in E.E. connected to the EV4EU and FLOW projects, DTU, 03/2024 – 02/2027 (supervisors: M. Marinelli, M. Secchi, K Sevdari).

- Xihai Cao, "V2X Management Strategies of EV Charging to Enhance Renewable Integration and System Stability," Ph.D. in E.E. connected to the EV4EU project, DTU, 11/2022 – 10/2025 (supervisors: M. Marinelli, C. Ziras, J. Engelhardt).

- Anna Malkova, “Electric Vehicles Powered Hybrid Power Plants,” Alliance Ph.D. in E.E. with NTNU and connected to ACDC and EV4EU projects, DTU, 10/2022 – 09/2025 (supervisors: M. Marinelli, J.M. Zepter, M. Korpås).

- Mirko Ledro, “Offshore wind-Battery Energy Li-Ion Control Scheme,” Industrial D. in E.E. with Ørsted, DTU, 09/2022 – 08/2025 (supervisors: M. Marinelli, J.M. Zepter, M. Paludan, O. E. Idehen).

Teaching and education involvement:

• Integration of wind power in the power system (course ID 46745), 5 ECTS M.Sc. course at DTU, main teacher and course responsible since 2014.
• Distributed energy technologies modelling and control (course ID 46740), 5 ECTS M.Sc. course at DTU, main teacher and course responsible since 2017.
• Hybrid power plants (course ID 46W47), 5 ECTS M.Sc. (online) course at DTU, teacher since 2023.
• Research challenges in Wind and Energy Systems (Course ID 46905), 2.5 ECTS PhD course at DTU, teacher in 2023.
• Modeling Energy System Integration and Sustainable Transport, 5 ECTS PhD NordNET Autumn School, 2024.

Membership and advisory roles:

- IEA Task 53 Danish representative Task 53: Interoperability of Bidirectional Charging (INBID) – EV TCP

- Study line responsible for the Electric Energy System track of the Sustainable Energy master (12/2020 - 05/2023).

- Co-organizer and scientific publication chair of the 4th Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference (ISGT Europe 2013): 450 participants; 558 extended abstract received; 254 full papers published.

- CINELDI (Centre for Intelligent Electricity Distribution @SINTEF) Scientific Committee member.

- UPEC (University Power Engineering Conference) Steering Committee member since 2017.

- IEEE Senior member since 2017 (member since 2010).

- IEEE Denmark Section, Power&Energy Chapter chair (01/2019-12/2020).

- Reviewer for IEEE PES Transactions and Elsevier Journals Applied Energy, EPSR, Energy and SEGAN.