England's Queen Elizabeth II is buying what will be the largest wind turbine in the world. The Crown Estate, which manages the royal property, has agreed to purchase the turbine for an undisclosed sum.

Clipper Windpower of California is building the extra-large turbine: It was originally slated to be 7.5 megawatts, but has been increased to 10 megawatts. It will generate five times the power produced by typical turbines in a commercial operation. The queen's wind turbine will have a wingspan the length of two soccer fields and will be 574 feet tall — by comparison, Big Ben stands 316 feet tall. Luckily, Big Ben doesn't have to worry too much about the competition: The wind turbine will be put in place off the British coast. While other wind-turbine installers might have to worry about making special arrangements with the government to erect such a large turbine, it happens that the Crown Estate, among managing $14 billion in other assets, controls the seas up to 14 miles off England's coast.

The queen's wind turbine is a prototype for Clipper's Britannia project, which envisions a new generation of extra-large turbines mounted on deep-sea floating platforms. This turbine in particular could power 3,700 homes. It's expected to go into operation in 2012.

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