Mechanical giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will build a wind turbine model bigger than anything else in the industry in Europe by the year 2010 and establish more solar panel manufacturing bases overseas.

According to this article in Forbes, the move is part of Mitsubishi’s change in focus from the U.S. to European markets:

The wind turbine for the European market will feature output of 5 megawatts, compared with the 2-3 mw models currently available. A single unit will be capable of generating enough power for 4,000 households.

The firm plans to expand production of photovoltaic panels to 10 sites. The Netherlands and Spain are among four candidate countries in Europe, with California and Pennsylvania under consideration in the US.

This heavy industry branch of Mitsubishi has annual sales of about 700 billion yen (about $5.8 billion US), mostly from fossil-fuel plants. This possible expansion into renewable energy could boost that number to one trillion yen (about $8.3 billion US) in the next few years.