The main purpose of this study was to present a technique on how to optimize the configuration of a typical AC-coupling stand alone hybrid power system (SAHPS). The design was posed as an optimization problem whose solution allowed obtaining the configuration of the SAHPS that minimized the total cost through the useful life of the system. To verify the system component models, an existing PV/wind/diesel hybrid power system at Chik Island, Thailand, was selected as a reference system, and the in situ monitoring results were compared with the simulation results. The minimization of the objective function was evaluated using TRNSYS 16 in assistance with GenOpt (optimization program). The result showed that the overall best cost reduction has been achieved by the particle swarm optimization (PSO) with constriction coefficient algorithm. This method requires just a few seconds to give the best results (where the number of generations in the algorithm is 46). It is thus believed that the present method would decrease the time required by design engineers to find the SAHPS optimum solution. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.