Introduction
Matteo Ferri learned electricity first through his hands: open panels, awkward cellar corners, solar modules carried up ladders. Only later did he meet the language of time series and load forecasts.
Matteo lives in Ticino and works on smart-grid AI. He began with an apprenticeship in the electrical trade, installing systems before he started modelling how they interact.
Story of the Path into AI
In customers’ homes he saw the same problem repeatedly: solar panels, heat pumps, batteries and electric cars did not always cooperate well. The technology was present, but households did not understand when energy should be stored, used or shifted.
When Matteo returned to study, he sometimes felt inferior among academics. Yet he knew practical grid problems better than many of them. He learned time-series analysis, energy markets and safety requirements for home installations. His first model combined consumption, weather and battery level to suggest charging times.
The model once recommended a setting that made sense on paper but ignored an old installation limit. Matteo added a safety check and a rule: no recommendation should assume the wiring is ideal.
Current Work
Today Matteo works at an energy start-up on explainable recommendations for households and small municipal systems. He translates kilowatt-hours into practical hints: run the washing machine later, do not fully drain the battery, check whether a heat pump peak is expected.
Test households use more of their own solar power and understand better why a suggestion appears. Matteo values that understanding. Energy AI fails if users feel ordered around by a box they cannot question.
Personal Advice
“Anyone building energy AI should have opened a fuse box at least once,” Matteo says. He means the messy reality behind clean consumption curves: old cables, improvised repairs, rooms that do not match diagrams.
Key Facts
Age and place: 26, Ticino.
Background: electrical apprenticeship, practical knowledge, later study.
Entry into AI: model combining consumption, weather and battery level for charging suggestions.
Focus today: smart grids and household energy.
Typical tools: time-series models, smart meters, energy optimization.
Werkstattnotiz
Matteo keeps photos of old fuse boxes in his project notes. They look out of place beside charts, which is why he keeps them there. The next prototype must explain not only the optimal energy plan, but also when a technician should check the physical system first.