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In recent years, renewable resources have become an important alternative to increase the capacity of power generation. Among the resources available, the energy in the oceans have attracted more interest and experiencing a period of strong development. Wave energy is the one that is currently closest to reach a stage of technical and economic maturity. In this process, computational tools to facilitate evaluation of the feasibility of power systems including ocean wave power plants are critical. This paper presents the use of software Homer, version Legacy, for evaluation of technical and economic feasibility of hybrid energy systems including contribution of wave energy. Homer is a software designed for the optimization of micro power systems that has a very broad spectrum of applications. A case study in southern Brazil is presented, studying the inclusion of an ocean wave power plant in a wind biodiesel hybrid system and showing the functionality of Homer for this purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ocean wave energy resource is a real alternative to supply part of the energy demand in various countries, since some locations have a remarkable capacity to generate electricity. The objective of this study is to evaluate the energy resource of ocean waves in the coast of Rio Grande do Sul, the southern state of Brazil. This note presents the first results. The wave data used were collected in the sea area near the Port of Rio Grande during the years 1996 to 1999, amounting to sixteen months of monitoring. The data set was treated and grouped resulting information monthly, seasonal and annual basis. The annual average was found to be 8.6 kW per meter of wave front, reaching 14.0 kW per meter for the month of May and 4.0 kW per meter for the month of January. The results indicate good perspectives in obtaining power supplies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]