Within the next 2 years there will be an offshore turbine constructed just off the coast of Britain and it will be about 500ft tall with a diameter of 475ft.

The mammoth 10 megawatt machine, dubbed Britannia, may become a growing trend says the project leader Bill Grainger.

He doesn’t see a reason why offshore turbines should not get evener larger, as the larger they are, the more power it creates which makes economic sense.

Mr Grainger, who heads the Britannia design team, told The Engineer magazine: ”There isn’t a technical issue that screams out size limit.

”You have to make changes as you get bigger. Blades get floppier, for example, so you have to put more carbon in, but we aren’t anywhere near 100% carbon yet.”

The Britannia turbine is being built in Blyth, Northumberland, will have 3 enormous blades which will each weigh more than 30 tonnes. The circumference of the blades will be 100ft wider than the London eye. The most likely location for Britannia is Dogger Bank, just off the north-east coast.

The turbine will rise 574ft above the waves and will generate enough electricity to power 10,000 homes. Over its lifetime could replace 2 million barrels of oil.

Clipper Windpower Marine is splashing out with £44 million for the turbine’s building facilities, including a blade factory in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. There will also be £5 million contributed from the local regional development agency.

Mr. Grainger did say, ”There might be a limit to the size that people want to put into the field; if a 20 megawatt turbine failed, that’s a big chunk of electricity to lose. But then, if a power station goes off-line you’ve lost 300 megawatts, so I don’t think that’s a limit either”

”They’ll get bigger than 10 megawatts, is my feeling. How much bigger? I don’t know.”