This paper proposes an advanced energy management strategy for a stand-alone hybrid energy system. The considered hybrid system includes a photovoltaic panel, a fuel cell, an electrolyzer, a battery bank and a supercapacitor. The proposed power management system aims to control the energy flow within the system and decides the amount of the load power shared with each power source. The system control is implemented in two parts: a central power flow controller that provides overall control of the power system and a local loads controller, which controls the different loads according to the energy balance of the system. The hybrid power system has been tested by simulation using models implemented in Matlab/Simulink software. The simulation is performed over a short and a long period of time in order to evaluate the performance of the dynamic controllers and the effectiveness of the management strategy. For a long simulation period, a house located in the province of Batna (35 degrees 33'N 6 degrees 10'E) has been taken as a case study with a deep study on real load profile for an average house with all required weather data with respect to the location. The simulation results confirm the efficiency of the proposed control strategy, as it increases the reliability of the system and improves its energy balance. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.