Patent ID: 8427010

Claim:
A system comprising: a photovoltaic power converter comprising: one or more photovoltaic arrays configured to convert solar energy into a DC signal; and three or more N-level converters coupled to a common DC bus, wherein N is an integer greater than 2, and wherein the three or more N-level converters comprise: a first DC-to-DC N-level converter configured to step up the DC signal from a first DC voltage to a second DC voltage; a second DC-to-DC N-level converter configured to couple to an energy device and the first DC-to-DC N-level converter; and at least one DC-to-AC N-level converter coupled to the first DC-to-DC N-level converter and the second DC-to-DC N-level converter, wherein the at least one DC-to-AC N-level converter is configured to convert the second DC voltage to an AC signal.