Independent Engineer

As an Independent Engineer, the ETA team brings decades of risk identification, mitigation, and management expertise to your project.  Our team has supported hundreds of project transactions for private debt and equity placements, project financings, and public offerings, on behalf of financiers, purchasers and sellers of energy assets, and municipalities. Our experience includes traditional and renewable forms of generation, gas and electric distribution, plant performance testing, economic modeling, operational reviews, technical due diligence, and valuations.

Notable Projects

• Cobre Panama Copper Mine – ​Working with First Quantum Minerals and RPM Global, ETA served as the Energy Advisor and Independent Engineer for a $6.3B copper mine in Panama. The project achieved commercial operations in 2019 and included the construction of a 300 MW plant to power this remote operation.
• Xpress Natural Gas ​– ETA provided technical and financial due diligence services to an infrastructure fund for the 2021 acquisition of a fully-integrated, compressed natural gas transportation company, delivering gas to pipeline constrained utility, commercial and industrial end-users in nine U.S. states and two Canadian provinces.
  • For more information, see our Case Study for Xpress Natural Gas
• sPower Group​ – ETA members provided technical and commercial due diligence services in support of AES Corporation and Alberta Investment Management Corporation’s US $1.5 billion acquisition of sPower’s 1.3 GW photovoltaic solar portfolio across several U.S. states in 2017. Given the +5 million solar panels in the portfolio and a tight assessment schedule, ETA members worked closely with the purchasers/lenders to propose and implement a tailored systematic sampling program.
• New Jersey Resources​ – ETA provided due diligence services on operating/development-stage salt dome cavern and reservoir gas storage projects being considered for acquisition. ETA’s review of these 18 caverns and 5 depleted reservoirs helped the client understand the detailed technical and operational issues unique to each project, and ultimately aided in the successful acquisition of an operating facility.
• TerraForm Power​ – ETA members served as independent engineers on behalf of a confidential bidder for TerraForm’s 3.0 GW utility scale wind and solar portfolio.
• Kiamichi Generating Station​ – ETA members provided independent engineering services in support of the project financing of Tenaska’s 1,200 MW natural-gas fired combined cycle power plant in Oklahoma, that was equipped to provide energy to either the Southwest Power Pool or the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. This project was selected as the International Bond Deal of the Year by Project Finance magazine.
• Wellhead Electric – ETA members provided technical and financial due diligence on behalf of commercial lenders providing funding to several peaking and cogeneration gas-fired facilities in south and central California. Project reviews included layout/design, logistics, construction schedules, project participants, project supply and sales agreements, utility agreements, environmental permitting, and a pro forma review of all capital and operating costs.
• Michigan Tax Tribunal – ETA members were engaged by a legal firm representing local Michigan taxing authorities to contest low property values provided by a utility for its coal-fired power plants located in their jurisdictions. The work included generating discounted cash flows incorporating projected dispatch frequency, future electric rates, plant performance, operating and capital costs, and testifying in front of the Michigan Tax Tribunal. As a result of this work, the Tribunal agreed to increase the assessed value by a factor of 2.6X, resulting in a major increase in property tax receipts for the two client communities.