Eighty per cent of the people without access to electricity live in rural areas. Due to high investment costs in the grid, the solution to providing electricity to these people will mainly rely on the installation of islanded hybrid microgrids. Designers need to consider a variety of factors for the optimal design of hybrid microgrids. However, many of these criteria are qualitative or uncertain. This paper provides a novel methodology to assess the influence of such criteria in the design of a Hybrid Microgrid of Renewable Energy Sources (HRES). The method combines context analysis, literature review and the Analytic Network Process (ANP) through panels of experts and surveys. The methodology ranked the criteria and helped to design a HRES in an isolated Honduran rural community in the Mesoamerican Dry Corridor. The study presents a review and classification of the main criteria and energy technologies considered for the design of HRESs in rural communities. The most influential factors turned out to be the institutional support, the possible expansion of the grid to the community and the availability of local energy resources. Regarding energy technologies, photovoltaic and wind power ranked as the preferred followed by a biomass gasifier as backup. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.