EWEA is putting a good spin on this year's capacity installations, focusing on long-term cumulative growth, and of course the higher % of demand met by wind. But the simple fact is that both onshore and offshore wind were slightly down from 2010, and significantly down from the 2009 peak.

The factors underlying the unacceptable situation include the financial meltdown, as well as some limitations by transmission constraints, but is primarily due to the unwillingness of most governments to accept that the fastest, cheapest way to increase renewables is to prioritize onshore wind.

Two years into the downturn one can imagine the financial pressure both on the manufacturers and the associated supply chain. Vestas' problems hit the news often (today their annual report release and presentation happens), but global giants Siemens and GE have also been hit hard. Second tier companies like Nordex or REpower the same, but with less capacity to carry over.

Without the overheated market in mainland China, global windpower numbers would be even more down than in Europe.

Think about that the next time your aunt tells you she doesn't want to see industrial technology on her Sunday walk. Please remind her she's still breathing coal dust and mercury.

Let's list the countries down or significantly down (CAPS) from last year (remember their total capacity may be a small part of the EU entire).

BELGIUM, BULGARIA, Cyprus, Czech Rep., DENMARK, FINLAND, FRANCE,  HUNGARY, Lithuania, SPAIN.  

On the surface, the formerly UNITED KINGDOM grew from 1 gigawatt installed to 1.3 gigawatts, but subtract out offshore and Europe's strongest wind resource grew a measly 0.5 gigawatts.

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