Patent ID: 8106537

Claim:
A photovoltaic power generating system comprising: a power-generating portion including plural parallel strings of power-generating photovoltaic modules, the power-generating photovoltaic modules being coupled in series in each of the parallel strings, the strings forming an array, each of the strings and each of the modules having an output; a plurality of DC/DC micro-converters, each of said plurality of micro-converters being coupled to a regulated DC voltage buss and to the output of a discrete, corresponding photovoltaic module or to the output of a string of photovoltaic modules; an inverter that is coupled to the regulated DC voltage buss and to a load; and a control system that is structured and arranged to control each string of photovoltaic modules, to ensure that power delivered by the photovoltaic power-generating system is not affected by photovoltaic modules or serial strings of photovoltaic modules that are not operating at maximum power efficiency.