who cares if we're "left behind" as long as we do what is right for us? Why should we grow as fast as developing countries or, in the case of wind, of laggards like the US?

Europe's number is likely to be above 8,000 MW (I don't know, thus the rounded percentage for the offshore portion), continuing on a stable trend over the past few years.

The onshore wind resource in Europe is weaker and harder to tap than in the US (population densities et al) - except in the UK which has its specific set of NIMBY and regulatory issues hampering the development - so what has been done in Europe is not bad, and the push into offshore ensures that this continues.

I'll let CH comment on technology, but most of the R&D is in Europe, still, and the developments for offshore will remain here - and that's the big growth area for us.

But I find such comparisons and questions about decline (or being "left behind") silly. Why even think that?

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes