Utility & Power Systems Expert Witness

Authoritative Engineering Insight for Power System & Utility Litigation

When power systems fail, malfunctions occur, or safety is compromised, the resulting disputes are often technically intricate. Resolving these cases requires an expert with deep engineering knowledge, practical field experience, and the ability to communicate complex concepts clearly in a legal setting.

Fagerstrom Engineering, Inc. offers expert witness services grounded in decades of collective experience by our team of licensed Professional Engineers. Our background includes significant, high-impact roles within major utility environments and complex industrial settings, providing us with unique depth of insight into system design, operation, failure modes, and safety protocols, utilizing advanced waveform analysis, power electronics, and sophisticated performance modeling across diverse power infrastructure.

We work confidentially with legal counsel to understand the specific technical challenges of each case and identify the expert from our team whose advanced qualifications and experience are the best fit for your unique needs. Detailed Curriculum Vitae (CV) for the proposed expert(s) are available upon request.

Why Choose Fagerstrom Engineering?

Pivotal Leadership in Critical Utility Infrastructure & Grid Modernization

Our firm brings decades of power systems expertise, including leadership in mission-critical projects that support the backbone of the U.S. electric grid. Notably, an expert from our team served as Lead Engineer for laboratory testing and performance assessment of advanced Smart Grid fault detection technologies, supporting evaluation and advancement toward grid-wide deployment for one of the nation’s largest electric utilities. In the hydroelectric domain, an expert from our team has held key roles—including Responsible Engineer, Startup Director, Startup Engineer, Interim Generation Supervisor, and Interim Maintenance Supervisor—across a division comprising 14 hydroelectric powerhouses and 27 synchronous and asynchronous units totaling 1,782 MVA, including three 404 MVA pumped-storage hydro units. These roles encompassed responsibility for safety engineering controls, capital projects, anomaly resolution, emergency return-to-service, operations & maintenance management, systems testing, and unit commissioning, reinforcing our capability to provide authoritative, defensible insights in complex utility disputes.

Expert Recognition by Major Utility and California State Energy Study

Our expertise has earned invitations and advisory roles at senior levels. One of our experts was personally requested by a Senior Vice President overseeing one of the nation’s largest utility distribution systems to serve as a panel expert on emerging Smart Grid technologies before division management. Additionally, we served in an advisory capacity for a State of California–commissioned energy study (via UC Berkeley) on high-penetration PV grid integration.

Rigorous Investigative & Analytical Expertise

We deliver scientifically grounded, standards-based forensic analysis rooted in peer-reviewed research and industry best practices. Our services encompass advanced failure and performance investigations, waveform and log diagnostics (including time-frequency domain and harmonic analysis), and system modeling and simulation using tools such as MATLAB, Simulink, CYME, SKM, and LabView. We also develop custom computational tools in MATLAB, Python, and C, and conduct comprehensive laboratory testing across a wide range of voltage and current levels—including high-voltage and high-current. Our methods provide defensible explanations for complex technical disputes and expert witness testimony.

Comprehensive Knowledge of Power System Operations & Grid Dynamics

Leverage our extensive understanding of renewable and conventional power generation, grid distribution, building & industrial site systems, rotating machines, control systems, system protection, energy optimization, and comprehensive grid interaction dynamics. This includes islanding, grid interconnection standards, power quality phenomena, utility switching events, electrical grounding, electrical hazards such as arc flash, and all major distribution grid fault types, ensuring a holistic view of power system operations.

Trusted by Major Utility & Industrial Clients

Our expertise has been sought and validated by one of the U.S.'s largest utilities (where we provided internal consulting within its recognized expert engineering division to all lines of business including power distribution and hydro generation) and by major corporate industrial power consumers, underscoring our credibility in navigating complex energy sector disputes.

Proven Expert Witness Performance in High-Stakes Disputes

We have demonstrated experience providing critical clarity in complex energy disputes. Notable engagements include a utility event resulting in industrial power electronics equipment damage and a large-scale solar PV plant vs. utility malfunction dispute, where our comprehensive scientific reports proved instrumental — with one matter settling on the strength of our report alone.

Diverse Client & Project Experience

Our engineers have successfully completed hundreds of engagements across the United States and internationally, including in Europe, the Middle East, and South America. Our diverse clientele spans commercial, industrial, municipal, federal, military, educational, legal, state and local government, and public and private utility sectors.

Clear & Adaptable Communication

Our experts excel at translating complex power systems concepts into clear, concise, and understandable reports and presentations for legal audiences. This is demonstrated through extensive experience reporting findings of studies & investigations, teaching technical subjects at the university level and to code officials, conducting presentations for diverse audiences (including presenting major utility projects at public and private conferences), and designing instructional guides for power systems test apparatus.

Recognized Technical Excellence & Tangible Innovation

Our firm's expertise is recognized through academic distinctions like the Graduate Dean’s Medal, Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu engineering honors societies membership, influential contributions such as peer-reviewed technical book chapter and conference publications, and a track record of developing novel solutions. Examples include a novel analytical generator rotor balancing technique which achieved early return-to-service and significant owner cost savings for a major utility hydro generation unit, and IEEE awards for optimal energy controls at a major commercial facility.

Licensed & Highly Credentialed Professionals

Our team comprises licensed Professional Engineers (PEs) holding relevant advanced degrees (with focus areas including Power Systems, Power Electronics, and Smart Grid). We maintain active memberships in key professional societies such as NSPE and IEEE (including Smart Grid Community, Power & Energy Society, and Control Systems Society), and include University Industry Advisory Council membership.

Areas of Power Systems Disputes Supported

Power Quality Disputes

Investigating and analyzing issues like voltage sags, swells, harmonics, and transients and their causal link to equipment damage or malfunction.

Electrical Grounding Systems

Assessing the design and performance of grounding systems related to safety, equipment damage, or transient events.

System Failure & Root Cause Analysis

Determining the underlying causes of electrical system failures in utility infrastructure, industrial facilities, commercial buildings, or renewable energy sites.

Electrical Fault Analysis

Determining the type, location, and cause of electrical faults on distribution, transmission, or industrial systems.

Equipment Performance Malfunctions

Evaluating why electrical equipment (transformers, switchgear, motors, generators, inverters, controls) failed to perform as designed or expected.

System Stability

Analyzing grid and microgrid stability issues, including transient stability, islanding, and renewable energy integration impacts.

Electrical Injuries & Arc Flash

Analyzing incidents involving arc flash hazards, electrocution, electrical fires, and assessing the adequacy of grounding and safety systems.

Utility Operations & Standards

Expertise in utility distribution, transmission, and generation practices, standards, and operational procedures relevant to disputes.

System Protection Errors

Evaluating whether protective devices (relays, fuses, breakers) and coordination schemes functioned correctly or contributed to damage or outages.

Emergency Power

Investigating failures or performance issues in UPS, generators, and backup power systems.

Relevant Firm Experience Highlights

Our team’s experience includes contributing to and leading highly impactful power systems projects and expert witness engagements:

Expert Witness for Utility Power Quality Disputes

Served as expert witnesses in disputes concerning utility power quality and its causal link to industrial, commercial, and renewable energy facility equipment damage and operational failures, involving detailed system analysis, testing data review, and root cause determination.

Spearheaded Smart Grid Fault Location Technology Evaluation for Major Utility

An expert from our team served as Responsible Engineer and spearheaded the rigorous evaluation of competing Calculated Fault Location technologies for a $68 million Smart Grid modernization initiative at one of the largest utilities in the U.S. (109,000-mile distribution grid). This pivotal role involved designing and executing a novel laboratory test scheme using actual field fault data to objectively validate and compare system performance. The goal was to identify technologies capable of significantly reducing customer outage durations through rapid fault location identification. The project culminated in a comprehensive technical report with data-driven findings and strategic deployment recommendations, demonstrating our ability to conduct in-depth, impartial technical assessments critical to high-stakes utility decision-making.

Utility Internal Consulting (Distribution & Hydro Operations)

Provided internal consulting expert services to a major U.S. utility’s power distribution and hydro power generation divisions, analyzing complex system anomalies, solving operational issues, and contributing to reliability and safety initiatives for one of the nation’s largest generation/distribution networks.

Comprehensive Arc-Flash Hazard Mitigation Analysis

Performed comprehensive arc-flash hazards mitigation analyses for large industrial and pharmaceutical campus buildings, evaluating safety procedures, system designs, and electrical hazard level determination involving extensive electrical infrastructure with complex power sources (over 800 buses analyzed on one campus).

Critical Hydro Generation Equipment Failure Analysis & Remediation

Served as responsible engineers for failure analyses and remediation of critical hydro power generation equipment for major utility assets, including major hydro generators (e.g., 404 MVA pumped-storage), black-start generation, and power-electronics equipment.

High-Voltage Substation Ground Grid Safety Analysis

Conducted detailed electrical engineering analyses for substation ground grid safety, including electrocution hazards analysis, modeling, simulation, and mitigation design for high-voltage utility substations (e.g., 115 kV).

Expert Witness for PV Plant Malfunction (Power Quality Disputes)

Provided expert witness services in a dispute involving an industrial agricultural partnership claiming utility power quality caused solar photovoltaic (PV) plant malfunction, requiring in-depth PV and utility system analysis, testing data review, site inspection, malfunction theory development, and extensive scientific reporting.

Hydro Generator Engineering, Operations & Maintenance, Optimization & Return-to-Service

Served variously as Responsible Engineers, Startup & Test Engineers (commissioning), and Startup Directors for major hydro generator capital and expense projects. Work included stator and field pole rewinds, governor and exciter replacements, turbine shutoff valve controls and seat replacements, generator and powerhouse fire protection systems replacements, station service switchgear replacement, machine refurbishment & general maintenance (e.g., bearing, thrust shoe refurbishment), machine disassembly and reassembly, and startup testing & commissioning. Contributions included developing novel analytical techniques for system optimization and early return-to-service availing significant performance improvements.

Major Financial Institution Headquarters Off-Grid Feasibility

Conducted a technical feasibility study and off-grid functionality analysis for the emergency power systems of a major financial institution's corporate headquarters. This critical assessment determined the system’s capability to maintain not only mission-critical data center operations but also essential normal business functions during an outage. The analysis further quantified available spare power for other building sections and considered necessary infrastructure modifications, including distribution and controls, to ensure reliable emergency power delivery and overall operational continuity.

Solar PV Energy Production Analysis & Design Validation

Performed solar photovoltaic (PV) energy production analysis, modeling, and construction design evaluation for industrial power generation plants, validating performance claims and identifying potential design liabilities.

Central Power System Loading & Expansion Feasibility

Analyzed central power system loading and expansion feasibility for large high-rise residential and commercial buildings.

These examples illustrate the depth, complexity, and high-stakes nature of the power systems challenges our team has successfully addressed.

Our Expert Team & Matching Process

Fagerstrom Engineering maintains a curated team of highly qualified Professional Engineers with diverse and deep experience specifically within power systems and electrical engineering. Our experts possess the advanced degrees, professional licenses, and the practical, field-tested knowledge necessary to serve effectively in complex legal matters across various industries.

When you contact us regarding a potential case, we initiate a confidential discussion to understand the specific technical issues at hand. We then identify the expert from our team whose background, project experience, and specific technical knowledge are the most relevant and impactful for your case’s unique requirements. This ensures you are paired with an expert whose expertise precisely matches the technical nuances of your dispute.

Detailed Curriculum Vitae (CVs) for the proposed expert(s) will be provided to you upon request after an initial case conflict check and confidentiality discussion, allowing for your thorough review and vetting process in a controlled environment.

Our Approach to Expert Witness Engagements

We follow a structured and rigorous process to support legal counsel throughout the litigation lifecycle:

Initial Confidential Discussion: We begin by understanding your case details, technical challenges, and expert needs.
Expert Matching & CV Provision: We propose the expert from our team best suited to the case specifics and provide relevant CV(s) upon request.
Independent Analysis: Our assigned expert conducts a thorough review of evidence, performs necessary calculations, modeling, simulations, research, and testing as required.
Opinion Formulation: Objective, data-driven expert opinions are developed based on sound engineering principles and findings, supported by established codes, standards, and peer-reviewed research.
Report Preparation: Clear, concise, and defensible expert reports are drafted, explaining complex power systems technical matters in easily understandable terms for a legal audience.
Discovery Support: Assistance is provided in understanding technical aspects of the case, preparing for depositions, and formulating cross-examination questions.
Testimony: The assigned expert provides clear, credible, and objective testimony in depositions, hearings, and trials.
Technical Advisory: We offer ongoing technical consultation and support to the legal team as needed throughout the litigation process.

Get Started – Request Expert Support

If you require highly experienced and credible electrical engineering expert witness support for a power systems or utility-related dispute, please contact Fagerstrom Engineering, Inc. to discuss your case needs. We will connect you with the expert on our team best suited to assist you, and provide detailed CVs for your review.