Epic to power its facility with wind turbines | News

Epic Systems is building six commercial wind turbines -- each with three 135-foot blades spinning atop a 262-foot tower at its Verona campus. The six machines will be the first of their kind in Dane County.

The Wisconsin State Journal reported a geothermal system already heats and cools the campus and solar panels generate electricity.

Bruce Richards, the company's director of facilities and engineering, says the addition of the turbines will mean Epic can provide about 85 percent of its own energy needs by 2014.

Richards wouldn't discuss the project's cost, but said the company expected electrical cost savings to pay for construction within seven years.

The turbines are expected to be visible from the tall buildings in downtown Madison, including the Capitol.

Epic Systems is a medical software manufacturer.