A multi-MW wind turbine is a huge mechanical structure, of which the rotor diameter is more or less than 100 m. Rotor blades experience unsymmetric mechanical loads caused by the interaction of incoming wind with the tower and wind shear effect. These mechanical loads are transferred to the entire structure of the wind turbine and are known as the major reasons for shortening the life span of the wind turbine. Therefore, as the size of wind turbine gets bigger, the mitigation of mechanical loads becomes more important issue in wind turbine control system design. In this paper, a concept of an individual pitch control(IPC), which minimizes the mechanical loads of rotor blades, is introduced, and simulation results using IPC are discussed.
