LONDON  In an ambitious bid to revamp Britain’s energy strategy, Prime Minister Gordon Brown awarded contracts to major energy companies that are to erect wind farms along Britain’s coastline.

The project will be one of the biggest wind power initiatives anywhere in the world. Beginning construction in 2014, it promises to be a bold, even risky bet to erect thousands of turbines along Britain’s 7,500 miles of turbulent waterfront.

For Mr. Brown, who remains embattled politically just months before a general election, the wind initiative also promises to burnish his environmental credentials and generate jobs, possibly as many as 70,000 by 2020, at a time they are desperately needed.

Bringing the plan to fruition, however, will require solving technological complexities in building and maintaining the turbines in waters that are deeper (often more than 100 feet), rougher and farther offshore (in one case nearly 180 miles) than ever attempted.