Expertise
Engineering Expertise for Defensible Infrastructure Protection
Protecting critical energy infrastructure requires more than products or standards compliance.
It requires engineering expertise grounded in physical reality, validated by testing, and applied with professional judgment in high-consequence environments.
SERGI’s expertise supports infrastructure operators, insurers, EPCs and authorities in making defensible protection decisions for rare but catastrophic transformer failure scenarios.
When consequences extend beyond the asset itself, engineering judgment matters.
Our Expertise Framework
SERGI’s expertise is structured around four complementary pillars, covering the full path from risk understanding to defensible implementation.
Understanding transformer failure mechanisms requires modeling phenomena that occur in milliseconds and involve coupled physical domains.
SERGI develops and applies advanced multiphysics simulations to support protection design, including:
- internal arcing and gas generation dynamics,
- transient pressure wave propagation,
- oil movement and structural response (FSI),
- interaction between failure mechanisms and protection devices.
Simulation is not used to replace testing, but to explain, dimension, and justify protection architectures under site-specific conditions.
- Engineering models are validated against real events and test results.
Most critical transformers in operation today were not designed for modern risk expectations.
SERGI supports retrofit and modernization projects where constraints are severe:
- limited installation space,
- existing civil and electrical interfaces,
- operational continuity requirements,
- regulatory and insurance constraints.
Our expertise focuses on what is physically achievable, not theoretical protection levels.
Each retrofit project is treated as a unique engineering case, not a catalog application.
In critical infrastructure, protection solutions must be provable, not promised.
SERGI’s expertise includes:
- alignment with applicable international standards and guidance (NFPA, IEC, IEEE, where relevant),
- independent laboratory testing under representative failure conditions,
- validation campaigns on real oil-filled transformers,
- documented performance limits and residual risks.
Standards are treated as engineering foundations, not substitutes for professional judgment.
- This approach supports regulatory acceptance, insurance review, and long-term accountability.
SERGI’s expertise supports organizations where failure consequences are unacceptable:
- transmission and distribution utilities,
- power generation operators (including hydro and nuclear environments),
- industrial and energy-intensive sites,
- insurers and risk engineering teams,
- authorities and regulatory bodies.
Our role is not to replace their responsibility —
it is to support defensible, documented engineering decisions.
Engineering expertise must be transparent and accessible.
SERGI provides structured resources to support informed decision-making, including:
- technical documentation and references,
- validation summaries and qualification criteria,
- engineering insights and decision frameworks,
- contact pathways for expert discussions.
Resources are designed to support engineering, risk and governance stakeholders, not marketing narratives.
SERGI expertise is:
- grounded in physical failure mechanisms,
- validated by testing and field experience,
- transparent about limits and residual risk,
- aligned with long-term infrastructure responsibility.
SERGI expertise is not:
- generic protection advice,
- software-only risk mitigation,
- claims without demonstrable proof,
- one-size-fits-all solutions.
Engineering expertise only has value if it leads to clear, defensible decisions.
SERGI supports stakeholders in answering critical questions:
- What can realistically be prevented?
- What can only be mitigated?
- Where are the physical limits of protection?
- What residual risk remains — and is it acceptable?
Depending on the nature of the question or decision at hand, SERGI provides several levels of technical engagement, from initial discussion to in-depth engineering review.
Operational footprint (selected facts)
SERGI’s engineering approach has been applied in real-world operating conditions, across regulated and high-consequence environments.
- More than six decades of field deployment
- Implemented across multiple regulated energy markets
- Applied to large power transformers in critical infrastructure contexts
- Supporting operators, insurers, and authorities in high-consequence risk mitigation
From Expertise to Decision
Engineering expertise only has value if it leads to clear, defensible decisions.
SERGI supports stakeholders in answering critical questions:
- What can realistically be prevented?
- What can only be mitigated?
- Where are the physical limits of protection?
- What residual risk remains — and is it acceptable?
