Fig. 3 shows the potential tower mass savings for the NREL 5 MW rotor. The baseline tower condition (at zero tower mass savings) represents a design whose natural first mode frequency (f1) is 0.32 Hz (shown by solid black line). This frequency has been checked against the rotor (1P) and blade (3P) rotational frequencies by NREL engineers, in order to avoid any resonance [10] and [11]. This frequency is 1.4 times larger than the rated rotor rotation frequency fR of 0.23 Hz (shown by dashed black line), which is calculated based on rotor diameter Drotor, tip speed ratio λ = 7.5, and average wind speed v = 12 m/s. The ratio between these two frequencies (f1/fR) represents a safety factor of 1.4 since lower wind speeds will result in lower rotor rotation frequencies, while rotor rpm is kept fixed for higher wind speeds (up until cut-out conditions). Maintaining this safety factor can avoid problems of the proximity of a natural frequency to a rotor/blade frequency can lead to tower resonance.