Distribution of electricity to the rural areas, particularly in regions which have rough topography causes high costs and losses. Hybrid systems can provide electricity at a relatively economic price at these regions. This paper designs and tests a stand-alone hybrid system combining variable speed wind turbine (WT), fuel cell (FC) and battery. The main objective is to optimize the hydrogen utilization while guaranteeing the load balance implicitly as well as to achieve proper FC operation. To this end, a wind power prediction based controller is proposed in order to take action according to foreseen amount of power deficit or excess in the system. For the purpose of investigating the effects of predictions on the system efficiency, a case study is carried out on a coastal area with a high wind potential in Izmir, Turkey. The results obtained provide insights about the advantages of utilizing wind power predictions in a hybrid system. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.