Feasibility study on using jacket structure as natural grounding electrode of offshore wind turbines

Offshore wind power is becoming an important topic of the world´s renewable energy research. Regarding the grounding of offshore wind turbines, a simulation model of the jacket structure as the grounding device is established in this paper. Every conductor of this model is divided into several segments, and the Green´s function of each segment is solved with complex image method. Finally, the grounding resistance can be obtained on the basis of the principle of superposition. Moreover, this paper also analyzes several factors that affect the performance of this grounding electrode, including the depth of sea water, the resistivity of sea water and the soil resistivity of seabed. The results show that using the jacket structure as a natural grounding electrode is satisfactory for the safe grounding of offshore wind turbines.