Applied Dynamics to add wind turbines to its portfolio

Greenfield Recorder 05/09/2014, Page A01

By ANITA FRITZ Recorder Staff

GREENFIELD — A local manufacturer that has been selling and repairing industrial motors in the Interstate 91 Industrial Park for more than two decades will soon benefit from a grant an Amherst engineering firm has received.

According to David Cunningham, vice president of Applied Dynamics Corp., Black Island Wind Turbines LLC of Amherst has received a $150,000 grant from the state to complete its designs and engineering of small wind turbines that could be used by homeowners, farms and businesses.

“We will be manufacturing the wind turbines,” said Cunningham. “It will all be done in Greenfield.”

Black Island was one of four to receive the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s InnovateMass grant.

In 2013, Applied Dynamics Chief Executive Officer David Manning announced he had bought a small company in Glens Falls, N.Y., and planned to start manufacturing wind turbines there. He promised, at that time, that he would eventually manufacture them in Greenfield, as well.

Though Manning, who lives in Gill, has said he would like to expand his business, Applied Dynamics will stay in Greenfield, where it employs 47 people, and more will be hired when the company begins manufacturing wind turbines. Cunningham was unable to say how many new jobs the new wind turbine design might eventually bring to town. Applied Dynamics intends to build and market the new design windmills.

Some of the company’s accounts include Raytheon Co. and Pratt and Whitney.

Manning said in an earlier interview that he has been working with the government for the past few years to get training grants so that his employees have the latest knowledge and are up-to-date on any changes in the industry.

Manning said he started working for Lewis Electric Motors in the late 1980s, after he got out of the Navy, and stayed with the company after it was sold to Electric Motor Service and Sales.

When Electric Motor Service and Sales decided to sell a year later, Manning bought it and Applied Dynamics was born.

Manning moved Applied Dynamics, which is currently located in a 35,000-square-foot building on Butternut Street, which is across the street from where Electric Motor Service and Sales had operated, shortly after he bought the company.

Cunningham said Applied Dynamics will be looking to add more square footage to the building when the company begins manufacturing wind turbines.

Manning said he has always been into wind turbines and solar energy. He said the company has been picking up more business since 2009. He said with the manufacturing of wind turbines, he expects business to grow even more over the next few years.

Applied Dynamics has offices in New York, Maine and Florida.