**2. Grid-Connected Solar Photovoltaic System**

Massive worldwide energy demand has led to significant usage of fossil fuels, which has affected the environment by increasing greenhouse gas emissions. So, renewable energy resources have gained popularity and growth through producing clean electricity [83–87].

PV cells are used in solar-based technologies to transform the sun's energy into usable power. Figure 2 describes the operation of photovoltaic cells, converters, inverters, and energy control units that make up a system for converting solar energy. Nevertheless, efforts are being made to better understand how to incorporate renewable energy sources into the electricity grid. There has been an increased focus on power converters and their controls because of the importance of their work in transforming electricity and controlling the output power. DC–DC converters are typically used in the initial stage of integrating renewable energy sources into a DC grid. Due to the output voltage variations of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar PVs, this stage must operate at peak efficiency. Hence, it is imperative that the DC–DC converters in the front-end stages exhibit responsive behavior towards such fluctuations in order to operate at their optimal efficiency [88–97]. In small-scale industrial or utility applications, these inverters are frequently employed because of their elevated voltage stress, poor efficiency, elevated operating temperature, and increased pressure capabilities. Multiple inverters are commonly utilized in largescale, high-power, grid-connected renewable energy systems due to their advantageous characteristics [98–102].

**Figure 2.** Grid-connected multilevel inverter for solar PV application [103].

An MLI is selected for medium- and high-power applications based on its capability to generate voltage waveforms of superior quality while functioning at a low switching frequency [104–108]. Figure 3 indicates how multilevel inverters have a wide variety of uses in the emerging field of renewable energy, and Figure 4 exhibits the MLI-based system integration of various renewable energy sources being employed and discussed [109–113].

**Figure 3.** Multilevel inverters have a wide variety of uses in the emerging field of renewable energy.

**Figure 4.** MLI-based system integration of various renewable energy sources [103].

A. Reduced Switch Count Multilevel Inverters (RSC-MLIs): Background

In order to overcome the size and complexity limitations of conventional MLIs, RSC-MLIs have been developed. However, their structural and operational features are affected by changes in their topological arrangement.

(i) Factors Contributing to Motivation

Researchers often consider the following qualities while building a novel RSC-MLI architecture, as shown in Figure 5. The most salient features are enumerated below.

**Figure 5.** Factors contributing to the motivation for an RSC-MLI.
