This paper presents a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) power conversion system based on a single-phase multilevel inverter The proposed system fundamentally consists of PV arrays and a single-phase multilevel inverter structure First configuration and structural parts of the PV assisted inverter system are introduced in detail To produce reference output voltage waves, a simple switching strategy based on calculating switching angles is improved By calculated switching angles, the reference signal is produced as a multilevel shaped output voltage wave The control algorithm and operational principles of the proposed system are explained Operating PV arrays in the same load condition is a considerable point, therefore a simulation study is performed to arrange the PV arrays After determining the number and connection types of the PV arrays, the system is configured through the arrangement of the PV arrays The validity of the proposed system is verified through simulations and experimental study The results demonstrate that the system can achieve lower total harmonic distortion (THD) on the output voltage and load current, and it is capable of operating synchronous and transferring power values having different characteristic to the grid Hence, it is suitable to use the proposed configuration as a PV power conversion system in various applications (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved