Grid-connected inverter for photovoltaic energy harvesting: Advances in topologies and control techniques

• Reports challenges of grid-connected power inverters. • Depicts grid code compliance for grid-tied inverters. • Reviews several topologies of grid-connected PV inverters. • Compares key parameters, i.e., THD, efficiency, switch count, etc. • Discusses different control methods for performance improvement. This paper reviews the recent advancements in inverter topologies and control techniques for grid-connected photovoltaic systems. As photovoltaic penetration continues to increase, modern power systems need high performance inverters which can maintain reliability, power quality and compliance with evolving grid codes. Although these inverters are advancing over the years, there is no existing review that captures the latest progresses across both topology improvement and control strategies. As a unified review that addresses both aspects is still missing, this work addresses it by providing a comprehensive analysis of both recent advancements and fundamental research trends. It highlights developments in inverter topologies, advanced control strategies, and modulation techniques. It also emphasizes the limitations of existing literature and discusses future guidelines for improving inverter performance. The main objective is to summarize current options and how well they perform.