Norway plans worldÂ’s most powerful turbine
With a rotor diametre of 145 metres (475 feet), the 10-megawatt protype will be roughly three times more powerful than ordinary wind turbines currently in place, Enova, a public agency owned by Norway's petroleum and oil industry ministry, said.
The world's largest wind turbine, 162.5 metres (533 feet) tall, will be built by Norwegian company Sway with the objective of developing a technology that will result in higher energy generation for offshore wind power.
It will first be tested on land in Oeygarden, southwestern Norway, for two years.
The gain in power over current turbines will be obtained partly by reducing the weight and the number of moving parts in the turbine.
According to the NTB news agency, the prototype will cost 400 million kroner to build and could supply power to 2,000 homes.
"We are aiming to install it in 2011," Enova's head of new technology Kjell Olav Skoelsvik told AFP.
Enova pledged 137 million Norwegian kroner (17 million euros, 23 million dollars US) to build the prototype.
"It is milestone in the efforts to develop the future's wind power," Norway's energy minister Terje Riis-Johansen said in a statement.
Environmental groups have been highly critical of Norway's government for not having invested enough in wind power.
The Scandinavian country is one of the world's top oil and gas producers but obtains most of its own energy through hydroelectric power.
Related News

California faces huge power cuts as wildfires rage
LOS ANGELES - Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) already faces an investigation by regulators after cutting supplies to 970,000 homes and businesses.
It announced that another 650,000 properties would face precautionary shut-offs.
Wildfires fanned by the strong winds are raging in two parts of the state.
Thousands of residents near the wealthy Brentwood neighbourhood of Los Angeles have been told to evacuate because of a wildfire that began early on Monday.
Further north in Sonoma County, a larger fire has forced 180,000 people from their homes.
California's governor has declared a state-wide emergency.
What about the power cuts?
On Monday regulators announced a formal inquiry into whether…