Utilization of wind energy to maximum permissible limits for generating electrical power has become necessary to meet the global energy demands. Under such circumstances the present day conventional wind turbine generators pose a limitation regarding the overload capability, specifically significant when they need to operate in high-energy wind conditions. It is proposed that by employing a completely different generator winding concept, based on high-voltage cable technology, to a specific generator, it is possible to increase the generator overload capabilities and thereby making it operationally efficient in high wind speed situations. Therefore, the possibility of extracting more energy is predicted to increase. Simulations, based on finite-element methods combined with external circuit models for the generator, have been performed. The results demonstrate that under given thermal and electrical restrictions, a direct-driven permanent magnet synchronous wind turbine generator, based on high-voltage cable windings, is capable of being overloaded more than twice the rated power, thus making it very suitable for strong wind situations. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.