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• The primary objective of the proposed technique is simplicity of implementation. To achieve this objective, the first stage MPC calculates a reference voltage using simple equations based on predictive control of ac side current. Thereafter, the second stage selects the suitable switching state redundancy for circulating current control. • The proposed technique needs to evaluate a fixed number of calculations, irrespective of any number of levels at the output voltage. It needs to evaluate a single equation to obtain the voltage reference and then requires solving for two redundancies to select the appropriate switching state. This simplifies the MPC algorithm to a large extent. • There are no weighting factors associated with the proposed technique and thus the need for weight tuning is eliminated. • A constant switching frequency operation of the MMC system is ensured and the MPC algorithm is run once in every switching period. • A new modulation scheme is introduced in this paper where the voltage reference sampled at every switching period is split into two nearest voltage levels (to be applied) and the time period of application of these levels are found using volt-second balance. The Modular Multi-Level Converter (MMC) topology is suitable for use in medium and high voltage applications. To cater to the multi-objective control requirements of the MMC, several Model-Predictive Control techniques have been developed. However, most of the available MPCs do not sufficiently address the simplification of the apparently complex switching logic of the MMC in regard to its practical implementation. To fill this gap, a modulated dual stage MPC is proposed here that controls the ac output current using a few simple steps, while maintaining sufficient control over the circulating current. The two MPC controller stages are used in a cascaded manner. The first stage calculates the voltage reference for grid current control and the second stage MPC selects the appropriate switching state to ensure circulating current control. The proposed technique uses carrier-based PD-PWM to retain its superior harmonic performance and ensures 2 N + 1 output pole voltage levels. While avoiding use of any cost function, a generalized fixed step approach is also presented that is independent of N value. The dual stage MPC presented in this paper is executed once in every switching time period to maintain a fixed switching frequency operation. Simulation and experimental studies show satisfactory performance of 25-level and 7-level MMC respectively, in a grid connected mode. Transient case study is also shown to demonstrate fast dynamic performance of the proposed controller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]