The combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) systems applied for a remote island are proposed and investigated in this work, which are driven by internal combustion engine. All the energy demands of the investigated island should be covered by the CCHP system without the assistance of electric grid. Four different CCHP systems were evaluated in terms of primary energy saving ratio, carbon dioxide emission saving ratio and annualized life cycle cost. The results show that all the cases are superior to the conventional system. Furthermore, it is observed that the CCHP system with double-effect absorption chiller offers a better option compared with that adopting single-effect absorption chiller. And in the circumstance that the supplemented cooling load is high enough, adopting the electric chiller to back up is favorable, with the comprehensive consideration of energy and economic performance. Nevertheless, it is not true in the situation that the amount of cooling load supplemented is comparatively small. It could be concluded that the best option among the four systems is the one adopting the double-effect absorption chiller and gas-fired boiler. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.