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The idea of powering street traffic lights using stand-alone renewable systems has attracted much attention, in recent years. Classical configuration of photovoltaic (PV) cells connected to a battery bank is the most commonly employed approach in this regard. However, the low sunlight intensity in a lot of places around the globe, as well as the short-stage batteries autonomy, make this kind of systems technically less adequate. In this paper, and in order to improve the efficacy of the PV-based classical traffic lights, a hybrid system composed of a PV panel, battery, and a small PEM fuel cell is proposed. The goal is to develop a more reliable, efficient, and clean power supply that able to meet the load demands of the traffic lights during all the year. Ouargla region in Algeria (Latitude of 31°95′ N , Longitude of 5°24′ E , and Altitude of 0.141 km above Mean Sea Level) is taken as a case study to be investigated. The influence of stack temperature on PEMFC I–V characteristics are also given and analyzed, furthermore, the proposed Whale Optimization Algorithm WOA is used to solve the parameters identification problems of the PEMFC electrochemical model. Comprehensive experiment results and analyses indicate that the proposed algorithm has good performance considering a two temperature samples (26 °C and 39 °C), in such a way, the lowest Mean Absolute Error reaches 0.0589 V and 0.1044 V respectively. Finally, an optimal computer program to design the system components is established and the results show that the optimum PV area, hydrogen generator number, and battery capacity for powering regular light signals are obtained to be 0.72 m2, one electrolyser of 60 l/h, and one battery of 80 Ah, respectively. • The effect of fuel cell operating temperature on (I–V) characteristics have been investigated. • Sizing a hybrid system (photovoltaic/hydrogen) to feed a 50 W fuel cell to supply traffic light signals have been achieved. • A computer program has been created for sizing system elements to match the desired load. • One scenario configuration is proposed, which covered the right balance and no power interruption to the proposed load. • The parameters identification of the 50 W PEMFC is given at different stack temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]