In this paper, the Optimal Harmonic Stepped Waveform (OHSW) method is proposed in order to eliminate the selective harmonic orders available at the output of cascaded multilevel inverter (CMLI) fed by solar photovoltaic (SPV). This technique is used to solve the harmonic elimination equations based on stepped waveform analysis in order to obtain the optimal switching angles which in turn reduce the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). The OHSW method considers the output voltage waveform as four equal symmetries in each half cycle. In the proposed method, a solar fed fifteen level cascaded multilevel is considered where the magnitude of six numbers of harmonic orders is reduced. A programmable pulse generator is developed to carry the switching angles directly to the semiconductor switches obtained as a result of OHSW analysis. Simulations are carried out in MATLAB/Simulink in which a separate model is developed for solar photovoltaic which serves as the input for cascaded multilevel inverter. A 3kWp solar plant with multilevel inverter system is implemented in hardware to show the effectiveness of the proposed system. Based on the observation the OHSW method provides the reduced THD thereby improving power quality in renewable energy applications.