Patent ID: 8860246

Claim:
A photovoltaic energy production system, comprising: a power bus; a plurality of photovoltaic energy production units; a plurality of first management units coupled between the plurality of photovoltaic energy production units and the power bus to supply electricity generated by the photovoltaic energy production units onto the power bus, wherein the power bus connects outputs of the first management units in series, each respective management unit of the first management units is connected in parallel to an output of a respective photovoltaic energy production unit of the plurality of photovoltaic energy production units to receive electricity generated by the respective photovoltaic energy production unit and has only one output, the output of the respective management unit providing the electricity generated by the respective photovoltaic energy production unit to the power bus that connects the outputs of the first management units in series, wherein the respective management unit is configured to determine operating parameters of the respective photovoltaic energy production unit, and adjust the respective photovoltaic energy production unit to track a maximum power point of the respective photovoltaic energy production unit; and an inverter coupled to the power bus to receive the electricity generated by the photovoltaic energy production units, the inverter configured to track a maximum power point while receiving the electricity from the power bus.