Energy Transition and Investment Analysis

Challenge: A major renewable biogas facility experienced operational issues and concerning environmental emissions. The owner, a large international energy firm, sought approximately $74 million in damages due to its closure from the County and State of Colorado.

Solution: EPS conducted an analysis of the facility's technology, operational performance, and environmental emissions, providing insightful technical analysis of the facility, its regulatory compliance, and economic viability.

Result: The technical assessment and financial appraisal determined that the fair market value of the facility was effectively zero.

Challenge: A major engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firm faced extensive design changes while building a state-of-the-art nitrocellulose munitions manufacturing facility for the Department of Defense (DoD), leading to significant project delays and approximately $180 million in disputed costs.

Solution: EPS conducted a comprehensive technical review of the multi-year project's design elements, including process, mechanical, electrical, structural, civil, and safety systems, and performed a detailed cost engineering analysis. Through this extensive evaluation, EPS identified significant latent design defects and project management errors and then quantified the resulting scope changes.

Result: EPS's thorough analysis of the engineering design and project management supported effective dispute resolution, enabling the construction firm to present a strong defense in a contractual disagreement over project delays and cost escalation.

Challenge: A solar energy technology company faced allegations of trade secret misappropriation related to proprietary solar panel technologies, with conflicting narratives around the value and confidentiality of the claimed information.

Solution: EPS conducted an in-depth forensic investigation, analyzing whether the designated documents met trade secret criteria and appraising the economic value of the alleged misappropriated technologies.

Result: EPS demonstrated that the purported trade secrets were largely obsolete, publicly known, or lacked independent economic value, significantly weakening the claimant's case. This contributed to a favorable arbitration outcome by effectively disputing and vast dismissal of the $34 million in claims.

Challenge: A global energy firm faced significant discrepancies in the valuation of their first-of-a-kind IsoAlky Retrofit Project by a taxing authority, which did not account for atypical costs associated with the pioneering energy technology.

Solution: EPS conducted a detailed technical assessment and financial appraisal of the first-of-a-kind technology, distinguishing typical from atypical expenses in the $560 million construction, and applied fair market value principles to establish the correct valuation.

Result: EPS’s analysis demonstrated the proper taxable value of the construction work in progress (CWIP), significantly reducing the client's ad valorem assessment by correcting the inflated valuation initially set by the taxing authority.

Challenge: A renewable municipal waste-to-energy technology and equipment provider faced allegations of design defects, including faulty equipment, poor operational controls, unwanted byproducts, and inconsistent environmental emissions.

Solution: EPS conducted a detailed engineering analysis of the technology and equipment to determine and confirm its superior performance while identifying severe issues with the owner’s equipment, processing out-of-specification waste materials, poor water treatment, and unreliable environmental controls.

Result: EPS determined the root causes of the owner’s operational issues, enabling effective operational changes and eliminating alleged rectification works and damages, thereby saving substantial costs for the technology provider and facility owner.

Challenge: Siemens, an energy technology developer, encountered allegations of design defects and material and liquidated damages from a customer.

Solution: EPS conducted an in-depth forensic investigation of the gasifier technology, including engineering reviews and appraisals of the equipment value at different stages of its technology lifecycle.

Result: EPS provided expert testimony that demonstrated no evidence of the alleged defects, supporting a favorable resolution of approximately $70 million for the client and substantiation of the energy conversion technology’s continued fair market value.

Challenge: A major oil refinery experienced a catastrophic explosion in Superior, Wisconsin, resulting in extensive property damage, injuries to over 70 workers, and the evacuation of 27,000 residents due to a release of hazardous chemicals into the community.

Solution: EPS conducted an insightful forensic investigation accurately, determining the root causes of the equipment failures, operational procedures, safety procedure failures, generation of blast waves, and the release of hazardous chemicals.

Result: EPS's investigation and testimony provided prevailing testimony for four lawsuits, including a class action for the community and three workplace injury lawsuits for contract workers.

Challenge: A renewable energy biomass cogeneration plant experienced operational deficiencies, including multiple fires, leading to disputes over the provided technology’s design and performance.

Solution: EPS conducted a forensic investigation, assessed the materials handling and quality, and evaluated the technology’s energy-generating performance.

Result: EPS’s forensic analysis established the absence of design deficiencies, demonstrated the contractual compliance of the technology, and identified the owner’s operational inefficiencies, thereby dismissing the litigation.

Challenge: A devastating explosion at a farm silo resulted in significant structural damage and loss of life, with renewable ethanol and fermentation-related causes suspected. However, critical production data and laboratory samples were not preserved by the owner, complicating the investigation.

Solution: EPS engineers performed forensic analyses, including debris mapping, blast force calculations, and process evaluations, to identify the origin and cause of the explosion. EPS’s investigation confirmed the presence of ethanol that had been improperly handled during the biofuel production supply chain.

Result: The investigation determined biofuel manufacturing operational missteps, key safety protocol violations, and destruction of data, resulting in a pre-trial award for the deceased’s family.

Challenge: A catastrophic explosion occurred on an offshore oil platform during a well-cleaning operation involving hydrogen peroxide, resulting in one death, several workers being injured, and property damage.

Solution: EPS’s multidisciplinary investigation team reconstructed the accident scene using over 500 images, forensic chemical analysis, and mechanical modeling, identifying uncontrolled pressure and temperature excursions as primary factors exacerbated by manual system operations and the absence of oxygen scavengers. The uncontrolled reaction highlighted critical gaps in the service company's safety protocols and system automation.

Result: The investigation accurately determined the incident's root cause and provided the basis for mitigation and settlement of the claims.

Challenge: A catastrophic explosion occurred during the transport of ammonium nitrate in Arkansas, resulting in the death of the truck driver and widespread property damage. The event raised critical concerns about material compatibility and adherence to safety standards.

Solution: EPS conducted a thorough forensic investigation, analyzing transport materials and ignition sources and ensuring adherence to regulatory standards. The team identified that ammonium nitrate was transported in a partially lined aluminum trailer, a chemically incompatible material that sensitized the explosive reaction.

Result: EPS's expert analysis clarified the root cause of the explosion incident, highlighted failures in safety compliance, and provided improved transport protocols, contributing to the litigation outcome.

Challenge: A dispute arose over ad valorem property tax assessments for natural gas storage facilities across multiple counties in Mississippi. The complexity of appraising salt cavern storage assets and opposing interpretations of economic obsolescence in natural gas storage midstream assets were litigated.

Solution: EPS astutely appraised the natural gas midstream market and property valuations for domestic storage, pipeline transmission, domestic demand, and export markets.

Result: EPS's impartial appraisal defined the accuracy of the County Assessors’ valuations, clarifying tax liabilities and compliance with jurisdictional requirements. EPS’s midstream asset appraisals established equitable assessment practices and informed future appraisal standards​.