This work presents control strategies and stability analysis for switched systems with a proposed application to photovoltaic energy generation systems. the conditions are based on linear matrix inequalities (lmis). initially, a general description of the photovoltaic systems is presented covering the following aspects: the modeling of a photovoltaic array, some common connection topologies, the main objectives, techniques for maximizing the generated power, among other informations. this content is necessary for the control design method proposed in this work. next, a design technique for the stabilization of affine switched systems is shown. the methodology used is based on the lyapunov's theory for stability of systems, describing sufficient conditions for the proposed switching rule design in the form of lmis and solving them using existing software packages. in the sequel, the switching strategy is extended for a class of nonlinear systems of great interest, especially for the control of photovoltaic systems. this class is composed of systems containing sector-bounded nonlinearities. furthermore, a method for stability analysis of switched systems is proposed, extending the class of switched systems analyzed by the current literature. numerical examples illustrate all the approaches developed. at the end, the application of the nonlinear control techniques to photovoltaic generation systems is presented. the main objectives considered are the tracking of the maximum power generation, with robustness to variations of the input parameters of the photovoltaic array, and the delivery of only active power to the grid. finally, simulation results demonstrate the applicability of the methodology for the control of this type of system, evidencing the compliance of the stated objectives.