General Electric Co. GE -0.64% said Thursday that it is planning to build what would be the world’s largest offshore wind turbine—a behemoth nearly three times as tall as the Statue of Liberty. The announcement launches the struggling conglomerate into competition with international turbine makers such as Denmark’s Vestas Wind Systems A/S and Germany’s Senvion SA, which are racing to make more powerful and economical wind farms that can be built without government subsidies. GE’s wind turbine, called the Haliade-X, would be capable of producing 12 megawatts of electricity, making it considerably more powerful and larger than any other a company has said it is developing. Rivals have been working on turbines that would approach or reach 10 megawatts apiece, a level at which the industry has long theorized wind power would achieve better economies of scale. “We want to lead the market,” said Jérôme Pécresse, chief executive of […]