courtesy Vestas

Norway about to embark on a new $1 billion round of support for windpower producers, as new political leadership makes 3 terrawatt hours of fresh capacity by 2010 the goal.

Norwegian Oil and Energy Minister Aaslaug Haga promised rapid windpower development and money for the purpose in comments lat Monday.

"Today's level of (state) support is not high enough, and we will therefore raise the level of support until we have in place a Norwegian-Swedish market for green certificates," Haga said, referring to a Kyoto-type plan that assigns value to carbon spared the environment by greener energy generators.

In a nod to two decades of environmentalist logic, Haga said wind conditions on Norway's west coast are among the best in the world. Norway is as long as the west coast of the United States.

To attain its 1 TWh of wind power, Norway has incubated wind energy via an investment company called Enova, which matches private investment dollars by up to a quarter. Haga said more money is needed to cover the rising costs of erecting turbines.

Enova assigns financial resources set aside in the country's Energy Fund.