Today divers at one of Germany's offshore projects found the body of a missing worker at the base of foundation pile. The 31 year old worker was one of two who plunged into the sea during a construction accident, the other quickly rescued. This is to underscore that offshore wind involves very heavy machinery and vessels, in a complex operation, which in terms of scale during construction is like offshore oil and gas. Condolences to a brave worker.

The AWEA release underscores the negative effect of fracking on the wind industry. While the figures of 6.8 gigawatts installed are an increase over the 5.1 gigs installed in 2010, this should be compared to the 10+ gigs installed in 2009. The 2011 figures also reflect the last year of the DoE's Cash Grants Program, or it would have been even lower. Underneath the news is the poor financial state of the industry, due to the severe drop in turbine prices undercutting margins, for companies across the board.

In Germany, because of a change of European statistics, some 10% of 20010 installations were moved to 2011 when they were grid-connected. For the first times, there began to be significant growth in the south, in Bavaria and Rheinland-Pfalz with 165 and 258 MWs respectively. But onshore is not pushed hard enough here yet, though repowering is beginning to take hold.

More importantly, several of the northern states reached into the high 40's % of electrical demand met. Sachsen-Anhalt, Brandenberg, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were all between 48% and 46% of annual net demand. The very populous state of Lower Saxony hit 25% of demand.

The city-state of Bremen even has a cumulative capacity of 141 MWs, within the city limits, equating to 4.7%  of electrical demand. For A City!

Germany in total now has some 29 gigs, compared to 40 gigs for amurka. There are 200 MWs offshore in Germany. The average turbine installed this year was 2.24 MWs, and a quarter of all turbines had rotor diameters greater than 90 meters. Enercon had nearly 60% market share.

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