A cascaded brushless doubly fed induction generator-based wind energy conversion system (CBDFIG-WECS), with the merits of high reliability, flexible power control and reduced power converter capacity, is presented in this paper. Based on the dynamic modeling of direct power control (DPC), two conventional DPC strategies are specifically introduced. Then an encoderless DPC strategy is proposed, in which the rotor current/position sensor is removed and only the parameter of control machine stator resistance is involved, contributing to simplicity, high reliability, and robustness of the controller. The effectiveness of the proposed DPC strategy is validated by simulations.