This work describes two tools developed to design and evaluates of photovoltaic installations. They were developed as an agreement between our Institute and the public power utility (UTE) in order to make rural electrification in areas far from the network using alternative power. In order to design this kind of installations here we describe the simulation software P_SOLAR developed by the Electrical Department. The mentioned program is an energy simulator by which it is possible to define different stages in a friendly way. This tool is useful to evaluate the future system performance, giving, as a result, indicators as the service quality. In order to evaluate these kinds of installations it is described a data acquisition system development of low cost and consumption, which allow to measure the principal parameters in a hybrid installation. The data obtained with each of these tools are showed and compared.