Niccolò Salsi

Industrial PhD Student - Unareti S.p.A.

Niccolò Salsi earned his Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan, with a study path focused on smart grids. Since October 2026, he has been an industrial PhD student at the University of Pavia in collaboration with Unareti S.p.A., the electrical energy distributor of the A2A Group in Milan and Brescia.

Alongside his research activities, he serves as an Electrical Grid Engineer in Unareti's Investment Planning department. He conceived and developed an electrical digital twin of Unareti's distribution network: an MV and LV (Medium and Low Voltage) model generated automatically and reproducibly from GIS information assets, powered by real user measurement profiles. He develops territorial-scale load flow simulations, optimal reconfiguration studies, asset saturation analyses, probabilistic reliability evaluations, and techno-economic analyses to support investment strategies.

His research interests focus on distribution network reconfiguration and optimization, as well as the estimation of remaining asset life. In particular, he studies how the thermal history of MV cables and joints, linked to load and climate, determines their degradation. The objective is to use network reconfiguration as a tool to extend asset life and to translate physical and statistical models into operational criteria for investment planning.

Previously, he conducted research on perovskite solar cells at the PV-LAB of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland and is a co-author of scientific publications in this field. He has also developed digital products and web applications, experience that he brings to network automation and data analysis.