Potential of Self-Funded Agrivoltaic Shield Walls for Asian Citrus Psyllids

The Florida citrus industry has declined by >90% in two decades, driven primarily by Huanglongbing (HLB) disease transmitted by the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP). While physical barriers such as citrus under protective screen systems effectively exclude ACP, their high capital costs ($43,560/acre) yield payback periods > 29 years, making them economically unviable for most growers. This study investigates vertical agrivoltaic shield walls as a potential self-funding biosecurity solution that combines ACP exclusion with sustainable electricity generation. A case study is presented evaluating a 35-acre citrus grove. Structural designs compliant with the Building Code and ASCE 7-22 were developed, and two deployment scenarios were simulated in Vero Beach, Florida: perimeter-only fencing (622.6 kW-DC, Case 1) and perimeter plus interior wind shields (954.8 kW-DC, Case 2). Techno-economic modeling under Florida Power & Light (FPL) tariffs indicates 25-year bill savings of $1.27M (Case 1) and $1.97M (Case 2) under net metering, invariant across the three capital expenditures (CapEx) sub-cases examined. Positive return on investment (ROI) on energy economics alone is obtained only under the joint conditions of net metering with a load-matched co-located consumer and an owner-developed deployment structure (Case 1: 20.34%, Case 2: 29.51%); under wholesale export at the cogeneration (COG-1) avoided-cost rate, every sub-case is uneconomic. Geographical information (GIS)-based statewide scaling indicates that fence-mounted photovoltaic (PV) on Florida citrus groves alone could provide 11.9 GW of capacity, generating 15.4 TWh annually. This would produce 6% of Florida’s electricity consumption, rising to 25.5% if extended to the rest of the state’s farmland, producing 65.03 TWh without sacrificing any growing area. The economic results are promising as they indicate that agrivoltaic shield walls, under the analyzed assumption, could simultaneously combat HLB, diversify farm revenue, and accelerate sustainable and renewable energy generation.