Energy Transition and Investment Analysis

Driving Innovation. Enhancing Efficiency.

At EPS, we specialize in delivering comprehensive energy and process consulting services that empower businesses to optimize operations, innovate with confidence, and navigate the complexities of the energy industry. With our deep technical expertise and industry insights, we help clients improve performance, reduce costs, and achieve their strategic objectives in both renewable and conventional energy sectors.

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Our Expertise

Renewable and Conventional Energy Consulting

Navigate the evolving energy landscape with our expert guidance across a broad spectrum of energy technologies.

Renewable Energy Consulting:

Conventional Energy Consulting:

Solar Energy Systems: Photovoltaic (PV) technology assessment, system design, and performance optimization.
Wind Energy Solutions: Site assessment, turbine selection, and efficiency maximization.
Biomass and Biofuels: Technology evaluation, process optimization, and sustainability assessments.
Energy Storage Systems: Battery energy storage system (BESS) design and integration.
Waste-to-Energy Technologies: Feasibility studies and process optimization for converting waste to energy.
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells: Analysis and development of hydrogen production and fuel cell technologies.
Decarbonization Strategies: Implementing technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Oil & Gas Exploration and Production: Process optimization, risk assessment, and regulatory compliance.
Power Generation (Coal, Natural Gas, Nuclear): Efficiency improvement, emissions reduction, and asset management.
Refining and Petrochemicals: Process design, optimization, and troubleshooting.
Midstream Operations: Pipeline design, storage solutions, and transportation logistics.
Gasification and Syngas Production: Technology assessment and process enhancement.
Energy Trading and Distribution: Market analysis, pricing strategies, and regulatory guidance.

Process Optimization and Performance Enhancement

Maximize efficiency and productivity through our tailored process optimization services.

Process Design and Engineering:

Operational Excellence:

Environmental and Regulatory Compliance:

Conceptual and Detailed Design: Developing efficient and scalable process designs.
Process Simulation and Modeling: Utilizing advanced tools to predict and enhance performance.
Equipment Selection and Specification: Identifying the right technology and equipment for your needs.
Performance Benchmarking: Assessing current operations against industry best practices.
Efficiency Improvement Strategies: Implementing measures to reduce waste and increase output.
Maintenance and Reliability Engineering: Enhancing equipment reliability and reducing downtime.
Emission Control Technologies: Implementing solutions to meet environmental standards.
Regulatory Guidance: Navigating local, national, and international regulations.
Sustainability Assessments: Evaluating environmental impact and developing mitigation strategies.

Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management (EPCM)

Ensure project success from conception to completion with our comprehensive EPCM services.

Project Development and Planning:

Procurement and Contract Management:

Construction Management:

Feasibility Studies: Assessing technical and economic viability.
Risk Management: Identifying and mitigating potential project risks.
Permitting and Approvals: Assisting with regulatory processes and compliance.
Vendor Selection: Identifying and evaluating suppliers and contractors.
Contract Negotiation: Securing favorable terms and conditions.
Supply Chain Management: Ensuring timely delivery of materials and equipment.
On-Site Supervision: Overseeing construction activities for quality and safety.
Schedule and Budget Control: Monitoring progress to stay on time and within budget.
Commissioning and Start-Up Support: Ensuring systems are operational and meet performance criteria.

Why Choose EPS for Energy and Process Consulting?

Technical Excellence and Industry Experience

Our team brings decades of experience and a wealth of knowledge across multiple engineering disciplines.

Multidisciplinary Expertise: Chemical, mechanical, electrical, and environmental engineering.
Certified Professionals: Licensed engineers and accredited experts with hands-on industry experience.
Cutting-Edge Methodologies: Utilizing the latest tools, technologies, and best practices.

Customized Solutions for Your Unique Challenges

We understand that every project and operation is unique. Our services are tailored to meet your specific needs.

Client-Centered Approach: Collaborating closely to understand your objectives and constraints.
Innovative Problem Solving: Developing creative solutions for complex challenges.
Strategic Insights: Providing actionable recommendations to drive efficiency and growth.

Proven Track Record of Success

EPS has a history of delivering successful outcomes for clients across the energy sector.

Extensive Project Portfolio: Experience in a wide range of energy and process projects.
Satisfied Clients: Numerous testimonials attesting to our effectiveness and professionalism.
Industry Recognition: Trusted by leading corporations and organizations worldwide.

Industries We Serve

Energy:
Manufacturing and Industrial Facilities
Chemicals and Refining
Environmental and Waste-to-Energy
Biotechnology and Bioprocessing
Steelmaking and Glassmaking
Water Treatment and Wastewater Management

Representative Engagements

A selection of EPS engagements across engineering, forensics, and valuation.

Biogas Facility Regulatory Challenge

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.

Engineering Design, Project Management, and Construction Expertise

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.

Solar Energy Technologies and Misappropriation of Trade Secrets

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.

First-of-a-Kind (FOAK) IsoAlky Retrofit Project Appraisal Challenge

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.

Technology and Equipment Provider for Renewable Waste-to-Energy Facility

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.

Technical and Financial Appraisal of World-Class Fuel Gasifier Technology

Challenge: 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.

Oil Refinery Explosion, Chemical Release, and Root Cause Analysis

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.

Technical Evaluation of Renewable Energy Technology Performance

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.

Engineering Expertise Overcomes Data Gaps in Renewable Ethanol Explosion Investigation

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.

Offshore Oil Platform Investigation and Explosion Analysis

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.

Ammonium Nitrate Truck Explosion Analysis

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.

Natural Gas Midstream Storage and Pipeline Tax Dispute

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.

What Clients Say

We worked with Dr. John Williams and the team at EPS over the course of a long-running and high-value dispute in the Supreme Court of Victoria in Australia. John’s vast depth of knowledge, keen intellect, and ability to convey complex ideas simply and succinctly was an invaluable asset in the litigation. John was able to educate the legal team and, through his expert reports to the Court and the Judge about the intricacies of the dispute. What’s more, he and his team were a pleasure to work with and produced consistently high-quality reports in a time and cost-effective manner. We felt incredibly well supported by the team at EPS and would not hesitate to work with them again

— Andrew Stephenson, Partner and National Head of Projects & Jey Nandacumaran, Senior Associate, Corrs Chambers Westgarth

EPS has for more than 20 years effectively provided mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, civil, and structural engineering, as well as project development and construction management, to increase our manufacturing site's competitiveness. The cost of EPS engineering is well justified in setting direction and providing project savings.

— John McKinley, Plant Manager, US Petrochemical Producer

Project management, estimating skills, engineering, and design are all real core strengths of EPS…EPS’s comprehensive energy analysis for coal-fired versus gas-fired steam production, which approached the complexities of our plant’s utility and process systems, is one significant example. The project incorporated operating, maintenance, energy alternatives, risks, and future costs and presented a comprehensive financial assessment to our management in clear and concise language.

— Steve Saunders, Engineering Manager, US Petrochemical Producer

EPS made it clear to ask us what we wanted, what we did, and how they could help us – not, ‘This is it, this is how we are doing it; take it or leave it.’ They were just really interested in giving us a custom package for whatever we wanted done..

— Tom Gardner, Leading Metals Recycler

John Williams is an expert in the field. He not only renovated the business, but he changed the flow of the product for the company in terms of minimizing distances from raw materials to production to warehousing to shipping. Nobody within the company was thinking that way.

— Ron Halik, International, Bioprocessing and Chemicals, Corporation

Competent, professional, honest, and able.

— John Havens, Texas Utilities

About Dr. John A. Williams

A Leader in Energy and Process Consulting

Dr. John A. Williams, PE, ASA, MBA, CFEI, AIChE Fellow, is the founder and General Manager of EPS. With over 40 years of operations, engineering, and construction experience, Dr. Williams is a recognized expert in the engineering analysis and financial appraisal of energy, power, and manufacturing technologies.

Credentials:

Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) by the American Society of Appraisers in Machinery & Technical Specialties: Energy, Environmental, and Manufacturing Technologies.
Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI) by the National Association of Fire Investigators.
Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE Fellow).
PhD in Chemical and Fuels Engineering from the University of Utah
MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago
BS in Chemistry from the University of Delaware
Licensed Professional Engineer in over 20 states

Dr. Williams offers a unique synergy of solid engineering knowledge and business acumen that extends from concept to completion. He has developed and instructed courses for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, consistently drawing professionals from Fortune 100 companies.

Our Services Include

Driving Innovation and Efficiency

We help clients stay ahead in a rapidly evolving industry by providing innovative solutions that enhance efficiency and performance.

Strategic Partner for Your Success

We are committed to building long-term relationships, acting as a trusted advisor and partner in your success.

Commitment to Excellence and Integrity

Our dedication to quality and ethical practices ensures that we deliver reliable and trustworthy services.