The control of a wind energy conversion system can be decomposed into two parts: a local control depending on the power structure and a global control (strategy) deduced from global considerations. The local part ensures an efficient energy management of each component of the system. The local control structure can be deduced from the Energetic Macroscopic Representation, which is a graphical description of the system according to action and reaction principle. Using inversion rules, the deduced control structure is composed of a maximum of control operations and measurements. The global control part is independent of the power structure. This strategy part leads to achieve power objectives (active and reactive power targets) and system constraints (machine efficiency and DC bus limitation). Several strategies can be defined for the same system. These control decompositions are applied to a wind generation system composed of a permanent magnet synchronous generator and two three-phase converters. Simulation results are provided for a 600 kW wind energy conversion system. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.