When energy transition and training march to the same beat. A talk with Maurizio Delfanti

«The energy transition presents us with technological challenges to which research — both national and international — can make an essential contribution. In order to harness renewable sources efficiently, we need increasingly effective production and storage systems. Simultaneously, we must focus on integrating these new systems into the grid, developing innovative technologies for transmission and distribution. The involvement of different players on the market is another key factor.

We must enable the electricity system to embrace not just new types of production, but new roles too. Research can help overcome these challenges at different levels. Technological challenges are tackled mainly at international level, while Italian research has a particularly important contribution to make to systemic challenges. Italy has a strong tradition and specific factors that make the input of numerous institutions and centres of excellence, not just its three Polytechnic Universities, a crucial element.»

«To meet the challenges we've discussed, and to have an increasingly decarbonised energy system, new skills will be needed. Decarbonisation is largely based on electrification, which means that greater use must be made of electrical power. As a result, there is a growing demand for new professional figures, particularly electrical engineers, and for basic training focusing on electricity systems.

The Master’s Degree in “Innovation in Electricity Systems for Energy” was created in response to these needs. The goal is to train a growing number of professionals with skills related to electricity systems. The Master’s course covers four categories of experts: some with a greater focus on technological matters and asset management, others concentrating more on system and market aspects. What they all have in common is solid expertise on electricity systems.

This Master’s degree has the distinguishing feature of being a shared initiative between three prestigious universities: the Turin, Bari and Milan Polytechnics. At the end of the course, a single qualification is issued for all three institutions. This shows how highly integrated the university training course is between the Polytechnic Universities and Terna, the promoter of the degree.»

«The agreement between Terna and the three Polytechnic Universities involves a variety of activities, ranging further than the simply educational. In fact, they also include research and technology transfer. Terna’s decision to harness the expertise of the three Polytechnics, with their exclusive focus on technological disciplines, demonstrates the importance of an integrated approach.

This partnership has far-reaching potential, from technological research on the development of new solutions for transmission lines, to systemic research in order to better integrate different sources of production. Activities to do with electricity system management, like dispatching a generation facility dominated by renewables, are also possible.»

«The research topics we’ll need to face up to in the medium term have to do with the management of renewable sources, which are intermittent by nature. At present, we manage daily variability, for example variations in solar power between day and night, thanks to storage systems. In future, the challenge will be to tackle seasonal intermittence, which is to say the abundance of renewables in summer and lack thereof in winter. For this reason, research into long-term energy management (Power-to-X; Long-Duration Energy Storage; flexibility) is, in my opinion, the most critical topic from a technological perspective.

In the systemic and market context, as I’ve alluded to, the involvement of the users remains a fundamental challenge. Research must meet the need to make load and production more flexible through demand-side response and greater empowerment of producers using renewable sources, in order to better manage behavioural dynamics.»

«When we look to the future, with the goal of carbon neutrality set for 2050, the technological challenges expand in breadth. While the solutions for 2030 are largely already available, technological innovations must be deployed for 2050.

For example, we’ll need to look at directly capturing CO₂ from the atmosphere and at how to intervene in "hard-to-abate" industrial and transport sectors, like steel and cement production, or transportation by air and sea. The goal is to favour the use of electricity in this field too.

At European level, energy planning strategies indicate that a variety of potential technologies are emerging. That’s why it’s so vital not to rule anything out, and to leave a wide range of options open. Research, including basic research on technological fundamentals, has a crucial role in this stage of exploration, which covers a 20-25 year time horizon.»