Applus+ acquires Barlovento, Specialised in Wind Energy Technical Advisory Services

December 27, 2023 – Applus+, a global leader in the testing, inspection and certification (TIC) sector, is pleased to announce the acquisition of the entire share capital of Barlovento Recursos Naturales S.L. (Barlovento), a leading wind energy technical advisory company. The transaction has been completed and Barlovento will be part of the Energy & Industry Division at Applus+. 

Barlovento is a fast-growing company with more than 140 employees and over €13 million of annual revenue, the majority coming from Europe and Latin America. Its headquarters are in Spain, where they have highly specialised technical advisory capabilities that perfectly complement Applus+ renewable energy teams. 

Barlovento provides a range of high value-added services with its own in-house multi-skilled and experienced team of engineers, technical experts and specialised field technicians. The services it offers include wind resource measurement and assessment; energy yields calculation; power curve measurement; testing and inspection, including measurement campaigns and accredited tests in its laboratories, such as mechanical loads; engineering and technical advisory services. Barlovento holds recognised international accreditations and uses proprietary software to provide the most efficient and accurate services to its clients.

Barlovento has a high number of framework agreements for recurring projects with important utilities and independent power producers (IPPs) active in the wind sector. It provides expert advisory and technical services to manufacturers, lenders, developers and investors. 

The combination of Barlovento and Applus+ opens significant new opportunities to expand services with clients, geography and services perspective. 

With this acquisition, Applus+ considerably strengthens its portfolio to meet the rapidly growing demand for technical services to the expanding renewable energy market. This places Applus+ as one of the leading full-service providers for this market in Latin America and Spain, with a strong and growing presence in USA, Europe and Australia. 

Javier López Serrano, Executive Vice President of the Energy & Industry Division at Applus+, says: “Barlovento fits perfectly with our strategic plan, expanding our services in renewable energy. By combining the people, skills, proprietary solutions and client relationships of Barlovento with those of Applus+, we now have a full-service model for solar, wind and energy storage, with the scale and specialisation to participate in the rapid growth we are seeing in this industry.” 

Joan Amigó, Chief Executive Officer of the Applus+ Group, says: “We are delighted to welcome the people and customers of Barlovento to Applus+. It is an excellent fit to our existing renewables presence and will open opportunities for further profitable growth.”

Rafael Zubiaur, Chief Executive Officer of Barlovento, adds: “I am pleased that Applus+ has chosen Barlovento to support it to expand in renewable energy. I am confident that we can provide Applus+ with additional resources, including complementary services, solutions and customer relationships that will benefit both our customers and respective Groups.”

Applus+ in Renewables

Applus+ is a world leader in non-destructive testing, industrial and environmental inspection, quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC), engineering and consulting, vendor surveillance, inspection and asset-integrity services. It designs and deploys proprietary technology and industry know-how across diverse sectors, helping its clients to develop and control industry processes, increase operational safety and protect assets and the environment. 

In the renewables industry, Applus+ has over 20 years of experience and is one of the leading companies in technical consultancy, testing, inspection and certification services in this field. Applus+ provides its services in the primary renewable technologies: onshore and offshore wind farms, photovoltaic and concentrated solar power plants, batteries and storage solutions and green hydrogen.

Applus+ provides these services throughout the entire value chain and project lifecycle, including the initial project phase, offering technical consultancy to corporations, equity funds and lenders; the development, construction and commissioning phase, conducting inspections at manufacturing sites, property engineering, engineering services and quality control; and the operation and maintenance phase, providing consultancy, testing and inspection services.