High-Gain Switched-Capacitor Multilevel Inverters for Renewable Energy Conversion
Keywords:
Common-ground topology, Photovoltaic power conversion, Self-balancing, Switched-capacitor multilevel inverter, Total harmonic distortion, Voltage boostingAbstract
Switched-capacitor multilevel inverters (SCMLIs) are an important transformerless path towards high-gain, high-quality power conversion from low direct-current to multilevel alternating currents for scalable applications such as solar photovoltaic and distributed renewable energy sources, utilizing only capacitors and semiconductor switches. In this paper, recent research advances in the implementation of circuit- and control-level 17-level and closely related high-level SCMLI structures, compiled from 48 peer-reviewed papers from IEEE, Elsevier, Springer and MDPI, are reviewed. The topologies are divided into four structural families: CT-/T-type hybrids, cross-switched and modular hybrid topologies, common-ground configurations, and cascaded or neutral-point-clamped derivatives, and are compared on the basis of the following parameters: output-level count, voltage-boosting factor, total standing voltage, active-device count, and measured conversion efficiency. Inherent capacitor self-balancing occurs in a majority of the designs in the set and is demonstrated in most of the reviewed designs to eliminate dedicated voltage-sensing loops, and common-ground switching is reportedly the preferred method to suppress leakage currents in transformerless PV strings. Nearest-level control and selective/level-shifted pulse-width-modulation schemes are shown to jointly dictate how the harmonic quality and switching loss trade off, and several designs are identified that achieve seven- to eight-fold voltage gain from a single low-voltage source with a reduced number of semiconductors while maintaining high harmonic quality. Nevertheless, through the synthesis, it also reveals several shortcomings in the state of reporting the total standing voltage, high power, experimental verification, mitigation of inrush currents in capacitors, and the formal modelling of reliability within standard performance power-conversion interfaces, defining those as priority avenues for design optimization of the next generation of high-level power-conversion interfaces.
References
R. K. Venkatesan and C. Lakshmikanthan, “A quadruple-boost nine-level common-ground inverter with reduced voltage stress for grid-connected PV systems,” Results in Engineering, vol. 28, Dec. 2025.
M. D. Siddique et al., “A new configurable switched-capacitor based boost inverter with reduced component count for renewable energy applications,” e-Prime - Advances in Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Energy, vol. 9, Sep. 2024.
I. J. Kadhim and M. J. Hasan, “Enhancing power stability and efficiency with multilevel inverter technology based on renewable energy sources,” Electric Power Systems Research, vol. 231, Jun. 2024.
A. Jakhar, N. Sandeep and A. K. Verma, “Common-ground-type quadruple boosting nine-level inverter,” in IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Industrial Electronics, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 1593–1600, Oct. 2024.
R. Barzegarkhoo, M. Farhangi, S. S. Lee, Y. P. Siwakoti and M. Liserre, “Resonant switched-capacitor multilevel inverter,” in IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 4218–4235, Mar. 2026.
K. K. Mahto et al., “A modified criss-cross-based T-type MLI with reduced power components,” Technologies, vol. 12, no. 6, Jun. 2024.
D. Das et al., “A new cascaded multilevel inverter for modular structure and reduced passive components,” Electronics, vol. 13, no. 17, Sep. 2024.
A. Choudhury, R. Athapaththu, A. Sahoo, T. Roy and R. Patel, “Study of a single source based high gain 17 level switched capacitor multilevel inverter,” 2024 IEEE Region 10 Symposium (TENSYMP), New Delhi, India, 2024, pp. 1–6.
A. Choudhary, A. Kumar Singh, R. Kumar Mandal and A. K. Saha, “A cross-switched SCS-based inverter for high-gain applications,” in IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 138617–138626, 2024.
H. Tian, W. Han, M. Chen, G. Liang and Z. Tang, “Common-ground-type inverter with dynamic boosting and reactive compensation for grid,” in IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 6017–6027, May 2024.
A. K. Upadhiya, N. Lakshminarasamma and M. K. Mishra, “An eleven-level self-balancing switched-capacitor based inverter with five-fold voltage gain,” in IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 60, no. 5, pp. 7138–7155, Sept.-Oct. 2024.
S. Hadi Shafiei, Y. S. Kavian and K. Ansari-Asl, “A new 19-level switched capacitor multilevel inverter with self-managing voltage balance,” in IEEE Access, vol. 13, pp. 152812–152825, 2025.
K.-I. Hwu and J.-J. Shieh, “A multilevel inverter with different input voltages having different voltage levels based on different switch switching types,” Applied Sciences, vol. 15, no. 24, Dec. 2025.
Z. Wu, Y. Liu, T. Li, M. Fang, J. Liu, and C. Huang, “Research on a thirteen-level switched capacitor inverter with low switching loss,” Energies, vol. 17, no. 20, Oct. 2024.
N. Kishore, K. Shukla and N. Gupta, “Generalized switched-capacitor-based hybrid multilevel inverter with reduced components count and inrush current,” in IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 71, no. 10, pp. 4887–4896, Oct. 2024.
F. Esmaeili and H. R. Koofigar, “Single-phase switched-capacitor 21-level inverter topology using reduced number of components with high voltage gain,” in IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 192979–192989, 2024.
F. Barmoudeh, A. Salemnia, M. Davari and K. Al-Haddad, “A modular hybrid switched-capacitor cross-switched asymmetrical multilevel inverter with low-stress voltage and high-power quality utilizing the nearest level control switching technique,” in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 73, no. 1, pp. 482–493, Jan. 2026.
P. Kar et al., “A novel reduced component high boost multilevel inverter,” in IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 124658–124680, 2024.
D. Kumar, R. Raushan and S. Chakraborty, “A single source quadruple boost nine-level switched-capacitor inverter with reduced components and continuous input current,” in IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 52922–52933, 2024.
D. Kumar, R. Raushan, M. W. Ahmad and S. Dutta, “A novel single source bridgeless nine-level switched-capacitor-based quadruple boost inverter with reduced voltage stress,” in IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 152183–152195, 2024.
K. Taissariyeva, M. Karakiliç, K. Mussilimov and H. Hataş, “A novel single-source 13-level switched- capacitor inverter with triple voltage gain,” in IEEE Access, vol. 13, pp. 135074–135088, 2025.
M. F. Ahmad, M. S. Bin Arif, A. Bhardwaj, A. Waseem, J. Rodriguez, and M. Abdelrahem, “A single-phase compact size asymmetrical inverter topology for renewable energy application,” Energies, vol. 18, no. 19, Sep. 2025.
A. Choudhary, A. K. Singh, R. K. Mandal, and A. K. Saha, “Switched capacitor inverter with reduced inrush current and high boosting gain,” Energies, vol. 17, no. 13, Jun. 2024.
M. Abbasi et al., “New nine-level common-ground multilevel inverter with boosting capability for renewable energies,” in IEEE Open Journal of the Industrial Electronics Society, vol. 7, pp. 86–103, 2026.
G. N. Pandurangan, J. S. M. Ali, V. K. Ramachandaramurthy, M. L. Alghaythi and S. Mekhilef, “Dynamic voltage boosting seven-level dual ground inverter topology with low voltage stress on components,” in IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 73, no. 5, pp. 3701–3711, May 2026.
G. N. Pandurangan, J. S. M. Ali, A. Iqbal and J. Guzinski, “A seven-level common-ground inverter with integrated dynamic voltage-boosting capability,” in IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 4510–4520, Aug. 2026.
P. Niranjan, V. Verma, G. Sharma, P. N. Bokoro and R. Kumar, “Common ground-based fault-tolerant multi-level inverter with boosting capabilities for photovoltaic application,” in IEEE Access, vol. 13, pp. 188990–189004, 2025.
X. Hu, L. Huo, Y. Chen, R. Kuang and C. Wang, “Analysis and experiment of a common-ground five-level inverter based on switched capacitors,” in IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Industrial Electronics, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 1503–1512, Oct. 2025.
J. Huang and W. Han, “A dual-source seven-level switched-capacitor inverter with common-ground structure and scalability,” in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 73, no. 6, pp. 8468–8480, Jun. 2026.
K. Chamarthi, U. R. Muduli, M. S. E. Moursi, A. Al-Durra, A. S. Al-Sumaiti and K. A. Hosani, “Improved PWM approach for cascaded five-level NPC H-bridge configurations in multilevel inverter,” in IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 60, no. 5, pp. 7048–7060, Sept.-Oct. 2024.
N. H. Charan, A. Bandyopadhyay, P. Roy, M. A. Babita and P. M S, “A single-phase cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter with voltage boost ability: Modulation and analysis,” in IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 60, no. 3, pp. 3978–3988, May-Jun. 2024.
N. V. Kurdkandi, K. Varesi, J. F. Ardashir, W. Gao, Z. Cao, and C. C. Mi, “Transformer-less seven-level inverter with triple boosting capability and common ground,” Energies, vol. 17, no. 13, pp. 3115–3115, Jun. 2024.
K. Jena, R. Kesh, D. Kumar, A. P. Padhy, M. I. Ahmed, and C. K. Panigrahi, “Transformer-Less Multilevel Inverter (TMLI) with reduced device count and voltage stress,” e-Prime, Advances in Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Energy, vol. 7, Mar. 2024.
M. S. Ahmed, R. Raushan and M. W. Ahmad, “An inductorless triple boost 13-level switched capacitor inverter with reduced ripple current,” in IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 39, no. 8, pp. 9891–9901, Aug. 2024.
Z. Wang et al., “A seven-level single-DC-source inverter with triple voltage gain and reduced component count,” Applied Sciences, vol. 16, no. 1, Dec. 2025.
S. K. Dalai, K. P. Panda, Y. P. Siwakoti and G. Panda, “Three-phase switched-capacitor boost self-balanced multilevel inverter for photovoltaic applications,” in IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 1818–1827, Sept. 2024.
S. Mondal, S. P. Biswas, M. S. B. Islam, M. R. Islam and A. Fekih, “A 3-phase switched-capacitor single-source MLI with self-voltage balancing and boosting ability,” in IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, vol. 34, no. 8, pp. 1–5, Nov. 2024.
K. P. Panda, S. K. Dalai, G. Panda, R. T. Naayagi, and S. S. Lee, “Self-balanced switched-capacitor common-grounding boost multilevel inverter,” Electronics, vol. 13, no. 13, Jul. 2024.
A. Awadelseed, A. Lewicki and A. Iqbal, “Single-phase 15-level switched-capacitor boost multilevel inverter topology for renewable energy applications,” in IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 90782–90793, 2024.
V. Anand, J. Sathik, C. Garcia, F. Blaabjerg and J. Rodríguez, “ANPC switched-capacitor 19L inverter using SHE PWM for 1-ϕ HFAC PDS applications,” in IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 4494–4505, Oct. 2024.
B. Kumar, S. Peddapati and P. K. Bonthagorla, “Asymmetric space vector modulation with positive and negative DC-bus clamping: A strategy for enhanced THD and efficiency,” in IEEE Access, vol. 13, pp. 135834–135847, 2025.
J. Guo, K. T. Chau, W. Liu, Y. Hou and W. L. Chan, “Pulse magnitude modulation and token rotation-based voltage balancing method of multilevel inverter for wireless power transfer,” in IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 4652–4663, Mar. 2025.
B. Chandan, P. Kumar Pal, K. C. Jana and Y. P. Siwakoti, “Performance evaluation of a new transformerless grid-connected six-level inverter with integrated voltage boosting,” in IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 4361–4376, Oct. 2024.
R. Stala et al., “Four-level single-stage single-source boost-inverter,” in IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 120524–120542, 2024.
Q. Wang, Q. Wu and G. Buja, “Analysis and modulation strategy of asymmetric cascaded half-bridge multilevel inverter with optimized DC voltage ratio,” in IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 6958–6972, Dec. 2025.
D. -v. Vo, K. M. Nguyen, T. -T. Tran, v. -C. Bui, Y. -C. Lim and J. -H. Choi, “A new self-balanced six-level switched-capacitor inverter," in IEEE Access, vol. 14, pp. 6326–6346, 2026.
A. Benachour, A. Deboucha and E. -M. Berkouk, “Generalized structure for three-phase switched-capacitor boost inverter with adapted space vector modulations,” in IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 1694–1708, Apr. 2024.
V. Arun, A. A. Stonier, G. Peter and V. Ganji, “Enhanced switched capacitor nine-level inverter (ESC9LI) featuring boost capability and streamlined component configuration," in IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 109513–109525, 2024.
