Renewable Energy Sources (RES) are the most promising resources of energy production for everyday life. Therefore, the precise combination of RES based technologies into hybrid systems could provide the solution to several energy problems facing the planet. The motivation of the present research study is the total understanding of the prevailing phenomena by using RES equipment in several projects. Initially the basic RES based technologies will be described together with the main fundamental physics on which their operation is based on. Power plants that are supplied with “green” energy and are connected to national grid will also be described. This thesis will then focus on their evolution; that is stand alone hybrid RES based systems. By presenting the RES systems the necessity of buffering systems will become apparent as the most crucial parts of off-grid systems. Therefore, the most well-established buffering technologies will be analytically presented in order to be subsequently embodied into the simulated RES applications. Following the above theoretical approach of RES based equipment and hybrid systems in general, this thesis will focus on a more applied research study comprising the energetic and economical simulation and optimization of a RES based stand alone system that is already installed in Leicestershire, UK. Based on local meteorological data, an optimization strategy has been developed to identify the most economical and efficient scenarios for electricity generation to cover the desirable load on an annual basis. Furthermore, the environmentally-friendly character of the system was highly concerned with emissions reduction; therefore the capability of an off-grid system was also investigated. The feasibility of RES based systems for electricity supply will then be presented for four different Greek Islands. Three specific typical loads have been selected to be covered and the grid connection was considered optional. Up to this point the simulation and optimization procedures were applied by using the HOMER software tool in order to investigate the most suitable well-established platform in the world. After the theoretical research study on the most well-known platform of HOMER an innovative optimization theory based on the energy part of a hybrid system will be presented in order to select the most efficient system according to the desired requirements and the location of a RES based project. This thesis will then focus on the design and operation of an autonomous hybrid system under real-life meteorological conditions which is capable of simulating several loads assumed to cover the electricity demands of small buildings. The specific hybrid system embodies technologies that use photovoltaic and wind energy in combination with an electrochemical storage bank. Experiments on the coverage of annual loads regarding a typical house, a typical country house and a small company were also performed to prove the feasibility of the stand-alone system. The same established RES project was then simulated on a yearly basis using the HOMER software platform to determine real-time results. The above analysis revealed that HOMER software cannot successfully simulate the operation of such a system, therefore the design of a new mathematical model to produce results similar to those of the experimental process was considered essential. Renewable Energy Sources are characterized by their unpredictable behavior, since their availability depends on local meteorological conditions. Therefore, the use of intermediate energy storage (buffering) is essential for an uninterrupted energy supply, especially for off-grid stand-alone systems. For this reason, at the end of this thesis the design and construction of a flywheel energy storage system (FESS) is presented in order to prove if this system could be incorporated into an RES system in a real-life scenario, thus strengthening the eco-friendly character of such a project and eliminating the drawbacks of existing storage technologies.