Generally speaking for a HTS coil, perpendicular magnetic field to conductor's broad surface should be suppressed as small as possible in relation to the magnetic anisotropy. This is a reason why toroidal coil with relatively many elementary coils is expected for HTS-SMES. On the other hand, from the point of view of the homogenization of critical current distribution in the coil, perpendicular field and parallel field should be balanced corresponding to the ratio of the magnetic anisotropy. This means that a certain level of the perpendicular field is effective to reduce local heat generation in the coil. Furthermore, this concept is especially reasonable for a high-field coil with usual winding method (flat-wise winding) because the perpendicular field does not induce hoop stress which decreases the critical current. In this paper, we show these findings through an optimal design of a MOCVD-YBCO toroidal coil for 2 GJ class SMES taking account of magnetically and mechanically influenced characteristics. Index Terms-Hoop stress, mechanical strain, optimal design, SMES, YBCO coated conductor. I. INTRODUCTION I N JAPAN, the applicability of YBCO coated conductor to SMES has been explored under a national project by NEDO since FY2004. As a part of the project, we carried out a conceptual design of a high-field (over 10 T) YBCO coil at 20 K, and suggested that YBCO coated conductor could realize a very compact SMES magnet compared with a conventional one using Nb-Ti conductor [1]. Furthermore, it was also indicated that such a high-field coil could be realized not only by good transport characteristics of the YBCO material against magnetic field but also by high mechanical strength of Hastelloy substrate against hoop stress.