A method 200 for automatically updating data associated with a wind turbine 10 based on component self identification may generally include providing instructions for transmitting a polling signal toan identification sensor 62 associated with a wind turbine component 42 and, in response to the transmission of the polling signal, receiving current configuration data for the wind turbine component42 from the identification sensor 62. The method 200 may also include comparing the current configuration data received from the identification sensor 62 to last-known configuration data for the windturbine component 42 and automatically updating one or more parameter settings associated with operating the wind turbine 10 based on any differences identified between the current configuration dataand the last-known configuration data.