An evolutionary programming based approach to evaluate the effect of combining fuel cell power plants (FCPP) and wind on the operational and performance cost is presented in this paper.The fluctuating nature of wind energy (WE) has different effects on the system constraints and operational cost. Moreover, FCPPs are able to produce both thermal and electrical energy simultaneously. Results manifest that through combining FCPP and WE in a hybrid structure for CHP systems, causes lower operational cost than that of individual units. In order to consider production cost of energy, electrical power from WE, power trade with the local grid, thermal recovery from the FCPP, start-up cost of FCPP and maintenance cost; an integrated cost model for FCPP and WE is constructed. A six-minute thermal and electrical load profiles for a residential house in Mashhad Province, Iranis engaged along with the wind speed variation to specify the best cost effective strategy. According to electrical and thermal load demand, available wind power and different tariffs for purchasing and selling electricity of local grid the operation of the FCPP system is scheduled to optimize operational cost. Encouraging results indicate feasibility of the proposed technique. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.