May 7, 2026 | 5:00-6:00 PM
Politecnico di Milano - Department of Energy (Campus Bovisa)
Sala Vento - EN:lab (Building 31)
Sommario
Join us for the 8th seminar in our Meet the STEP-CHANGErs series, a platform showcasing the innovative research of PhD students in the Science, Technology, and Policy for Sustainable Change program. Each session explores cutting-edge sustainability challenges and solutions, offering insights into how emerging research shapes real-world systemic change. The seminars also provide a valuable networking opportunity, with an aperitif following each session.This session features two exciting talks.
Strengthening Energy System Models for Policy Support under Deep Uncertainty
Valeria Baiocco
This research investigates how energy system models can better support long-term energy planning in the context of the energy transition. While widely used to inform policy, their results depend on assumptions about future developments that are deeply uncertain, which can limit their reliability. The work explores how deep uncertainty can be more explicitly represented within modelling frameworks, applying a Robust Decision Making approach to evaluate alternative decarbonization strategies across a range of plausible futures. The methodology is applied to the Italian energy system, focusing on key technological pathways including electrification, hydrogen, and carbon capture.
A protocol for the Holistic Analysis of Decarbonisation Strategies in the Transport Sector - Applied to the Italian Railway System
This research investigates how energy system models can better support long-term energy planning in the context of the energy transition. While widely used to inform policy, their results depend on assumptions about future developments that are deeply uncertain, which can limit their reliability. The work explores how deep uncertainty can be more explicitly represented within modelling frameworks, applying a Robust Decision Making approach to evaluate alternative decarbonization strategies across a range of plausible futures. The methodology is applied to the Italian energy system, focusing on key technological pathways including electrification, hydrogen, and carbon capture.
A protocol for the Holistic Analysis of Decarbonisation Strategies in the Transport Sector - Applied to the Italian Railway System
Khaled Gad
Decarbonising transport is a critical challenge for Europe's energy transition, yet current analytical tools remain fragmented. This seminar presents a novelsix-step Protocol for holistic decarbonisation analysis, validated on the Italian railway system. By integrating energy demand modelling, renewable optimisation at station level, and national energy system scenarios, the framework bridges infrastructure-level modelling with whole-system planning. Results show that conventional aggregated models systematically underestimate infrastructure costs and investment needs. Offering specificity, robustness, and transferability, this approach delivers evidence-based policy recommendations for governments and operators, fundamentally reshaping investment priorities compared to fragmented, traditional approaches.
Please register here.
Decarbonising transport is a critical challenge for Europe's energy transition, yet current analytical tools remain fragmented. This seminar presents a novelsix-step Protocol for holistic decarbonisation analysis, validated on the Italian railway system. By integrating energy demand modelling, renewable optimisation at station level, and national energy system scenarios, the framework bridges infrastructure-level modelling with whole-system planning. Results show that conventional aggregated models systematically underestimate infrastructure costs and investment needs. Offering specificity, robustness, and transferability, this approach delivers evidence-based policy recommendations for governments and operators, fundamentally reshaping investment priorities compared to fragmented, traditional approaches.
Please register here.