Techno-Economic Evaluation and Validation of Hybrid Solar–Wind Energy Systems Using Analytical and Simulation Approaches: A Multi-Sectoral Case Study in Herat, Afghanistan

The increasing global demand for sustainable and resilient energy systems highlights the importance of hybrid renewable solutions that integrate complementary resources such as solar and wind. Afghanistan, despite its significant renewable potential, continues to face chronic energy shortages due to infrastructure limitations and reliance on imported fossil fuels. This study presents a comprehensive techno-economic assessment of hybrid solar–wind energy systems across four representative sectors in Herat—household, educational, healthcare, and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs)—using both analytical methods and HOMER Pro optimization. Each system was evaluated over a 25-year project lifetime based on key performance indicators, including Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), Net Present Cost (NPC), payback period, renewable fraction, and excess energy. The results indicate that optimized configurations significantly reduce energy costs while ensuring reliable power supply. The household and school systems achieved the lowest LCOE values (0.0425 and 0.040 USD/kWh), while the hospital and SME systems demonstrated higher reliability, with renewable fractions of 100% and 136%, respectively. Comparative analysis shows strong agreement between analytical estimations and HOMER simulations (±5% deviation), validating the accuracy of the proposed analytical framework. The findings demonstrate significant environmental benefits, including substantial reductions in CO₂ emissions, with the SME system alone avoiding over 107 tons annually. This study provides a transferable framework for hybrid renewable system design in data-limited and off-grid regions.