A wind power plant has a main controller and a set of condition parameters that are fed to the main controller. The main controller determines settings for the operation of the wind power plant from the condition parameters. A minimal controller and a monitoring module are further provided. The minimal controller determines a setting for the pitch angle and/or pitch speed from a subset of the condition parameters. In the event of an error in the processing of the main controller, the monitoring module transfers the control over the wind power plant to the minimal controller. The wind power plant can be shut down in a controlled manner by means of the minimal controller according to the invention if an error occurs in the main controller.