This paper aimed to evaluate the use of photovoltaic-battery storage systems to supply electric power in the distribution grid through a multilevel inverter. The proposed system is composed by four PV generators with MPPT (P&O) control, four battery storage systems connected to each capacitor of the DC link and a five level diode clamped inverter connected to the grid by a traditional three phase transformer. The proposed control has a hierarchical structure with both a grid side control level to regulate the power and the current injected to the grid and four input side regulation units. The system operator controls the power production of the four PV generators by sending out reference power signals to each input side regulation unit, the input side regulation units regulate the voltage of each capacitor of the DC link, regulate the voltage and the state of charge of each battery storage system. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.