Present work presents small signal stability analysis of an autonomous hybrid energy system with dish-Stirling solar thermal systems (DSTS) in integration with diesel engine generators (DEG), fuel cells (FC), battery energy storage system (BESS), and aqua electrolyzer (AE). The performance of Genetic algorithm (GA) optimized integral (I), proportional plus integral (PI), and proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers in containing the frequency deviation in the proposed system has been investigated. The dynamic performance of all three controllers, so optimized, is compared with manually tuned I controller. Simulation results revealed that the performance of the GA optimized PID controller is found to be the best amongst all three controllers. Further, sensitivity analysis is carried out to access the robustness of the controllers. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.