Patent ID: 8294296

Claim:
A photovoltaic energy conversion system comprising: a power conversion component configured to electrically coupled to both, a positive rail of each of a plurality of first photovoltaic arrays and a negative rail of each of a plurality of second photovoltaic arrays, the power conversion component adapted to convert a voltage between the positive rails of the first photovoltaic arrays and the negative rails of the second photovoltaic arrays from one form to another form, each of the plurality of first photovoltaic arrays configured to generate a direct current (DC) power, each of the plurality of first photovoltaic arrays is disposed above ground potential, and each of the plurality of the second photovoltaic arrays is configured to generate a direct current (DC) power, wherein each of the plurality of the second photovoltaic arrays is disposed below ground potential; and a plurality of photovoltaic ties, each of the plurality of photovoltaic ties is configured to couple a negative output of one of the plurality of first photovoltaic arrays and a positive output of a corresponding one of the plurality of the second photovoltaic arrays at a corresponding virtual ground and each of the plurality of photovoltaic ties is configured to decouple the one of the plurality of first photovoltaic arrays and the corresponding one of the plurality of the second photovoltaic arrays from the corresponding virtual ground so as to form a plurality of decouplable bipolar arrays, each of the plurality of photovoltaic ties is configured to couple the negative output of the one of the plurality of first photovoltaic arrays and the positive output of the corresponding one of the plurality of the second photovoltaic arrays to ground when the one of the plurality of first photovoltaic arrays and the corresponding one of the plurality of the second photovoltaic arrays are decoupled from the corresponding virtual ground.