Renewable energy, a viable alternative of the world, can overcome the energy crisis that hinders growth of today's economies. The present work includes sizing of hybrid energy system using various energy management strategies. The energy management strategies considered in the present work are cycle charging strategy, load following strategy and peak shaving strategy. The sizing of hybrid energy system for all the mentioned strategies are carried out using genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization and biogeography based optimization techniques by keeping energy index ratio at 1. The model also incorporates net present cost, cost of energy, renewable fraction and emissions of carbon di-oxide from diesel generator. From the analysis, it can be concluded that the 10th combination of cycle charging strategy is most cost effective as compared to other dispatch strategies. Seven unelectrified villages of Dhauladevi block of Almora district in Uttarakhand, India, has been selected for the development of hybrid energy system, comprising of renewable energy resources available locally along with the addition of diesel generator, for meeting the energy deficit. The results show that cycle charging strategy is most cost effective compared to load following and peak shaving strategies, with a minimum cost of energy value of 5.64 (sic)/kWh. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.