A cascaded multi-level inverter system, a modulation method and a controller for the same are provided. The method includes performing a maximum power point tracking control based on a voltage signal and a current signal of each DC source and a voltage signal and a current signal of the power grid obtained by sampling, calculating a first modulation signal for suppressing power imbalance, and outputting the first modulation signal to each inverter unit; and calculating, based on the calculated reactive current instruction value, the calculated active current instruction value, and a current signal of the reactive compensation device obtained by sampling, a second modulation signal for causing an output power factor of the cascaded multi-level inverter system to be 1, and outputting the second modulation signal to the reactive compensation device.