Construction has already begun on Alpha Ventus, the first German offshore windplant.  The english language version is a bit behind the times...

but from here...

you can navigate to different live webcams of the process.  (On the right are listed the various views from FINO 1, the met and research station installed onsite a few years ago.)

The project will include updated/uprated versions of the turbines J financed, the REpower 5M (5MW), as well as the first use of the hybrid permanent magnet offshore turbine, the Areva Multibrid M5000.  Hybrid turbines attempt to combine the best of both standard geared design and gearless low speed generator design, naturally by compromising in the middle.

The entire Multibrid turbine and tower are pressurized to avoid sea air (salt) contamination, and the electrical components are attached to the tower instead of aloft in the nacelle, to save weight and cost.

As you can see from the photo, the tower is supported by a tripod structure, which rests on the sea bottom (with short piles) instead of the long 20-30m piles drilled into the seabed for conventional turbines.

For Europe (and not currently the rest of the world) offshore windpower is very important.  But it should not and must not be a substitute for the much more needed push for widespread development of the land-based resource first and foremost.  end of sermon.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin