A proactive energy management strategy for a stand-alone hybrid renewable energy system is presented. The study was motivated by the system built in Lambton College (Sarnia, Ontario, Canada) which includes photovoltaic arrays, wind turbine, battery, electrolyzers, hydrogen storage tanks, and fuel cells. The control architecture consists of two levels of hierarchy: (1) optimal predictive scheduling at the supervisory level and (2) local controllers for each of the system units. A day-ahead approach is followed at the supervisory level and a bidirectional communication between the supervisory, proactive control, and the low-level control layer is established. The proposed energy management strategy accounts for external (i.e., weather and demand) and internal disturbances. The efficacy of the proposed strategy is demonstrated through case studies. (c) 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers