Giovanni is a Lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), in Brisbane, Australia. He spent most of his early studies on central receivers thermal modelling and heliostats soiling modelling in solar tower (ST) plants to provide physically informed optimisation tools that could aid the uptake of CSP technologies. His research includes experimental activities in the Australian outback to collect reflectance data for modelling and validation purposes. Giovanni is also involved in the development of the new Masters in Renewable Energy at QUT overseeing the CSP-related units. He is the co-lead of the Soiling subtask within HelioCon, where he supports the development of a procedure to predict and assess reflectance losses for solar fields based on simple data collection techniques. This is being applied with industry and academic partners to create a soiling database, provide inputs for CSP site selection, and to aid design choices in early stages of CSP projects.
Recent Publications:
Manzolini G, Binotti M, Gentile G, Picotti G, Pilotti L, Cholette ME (2024). Actual cost of electricity: An economic index to overcome levelized cost of electricity limits. ISCIENCE, vol. 27, ISSN: 2589-0042, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.109897 Anderson CB, Picotti G, Cholette ME, Leslie B, Steinberg TA, Manzolini G (2023).
Heliostat-field soiling predictions and cleaning resource optimization for solar tower plants. APPLIED ENERGY, vol. 352, ISSN: 1872-9118 Picotti G, Cholette ME, Anderson CB, Steinberg TA, Manzolini G (2023).
Stochastic soiling loss models for heliostats in Concentrating Solar Power plants. SOLAR ENERGY, vol. 263, ISSN: 0038-092X, doi: doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2023.111945
Giovanni loves mountains and outdoor activities, especially when coupled with high speed. He is an enthusiastic skier, he likes cycling, and he has recently embraced triathlons!