Saving the Citrus Industry: Self-Funded Agrivoltaic Shield Walls for Asian Citrus Psyllids

The Florida citrus industry has collapsed by >90% in two decades, driven primarily by Huanglongbing disease transmitted by the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP). While physical barriers such as citrus under protective screens systems effectively exclude ACP, their high capital costs (\(43,560/acre) yield payback periods >29 years, making them economically unviable for most growers. This study investigates vertical agrivoltaic shield walls as a self-funding biosecurity solution that combines ACP exclusion with sustainable electricity generation. A case study is presented evaluating a representative small-family farm-sized (35 acres) citrus grove. Structural designs compliant with Building Code and ASCE 7-22 were developed, and two deployment scenarios were simulated in Vero Beach, Florida: perimeter-only fencing (622.6 kW-DC, Case 1) and perimeter plus interior wind shields (954.8 kW-DC, Case 2). Techno-economic analysis under FPL tariffs shows 25-year bill savings of \)1.27M (Case 1) and $1.97M (Case 2) under net metering, invariant across sub-cases. Under the owner-developed deployment, both cases achieve positive ROI on energy economics alone (Case 1: 20.34%, Case 2: 29.51%), while wholesale export under COG-1 is uniformly uneconomic. GIS-based statewide scaling indicates that fence-mounted 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 or raised to 25.5% if extended to the rest of the state’s farmlands producing 65.03 TWh without sacrificing any growing area. The economic results are promising as they indicate agrivoltaic shield walls can simultaneously combat HLB, diversify farm revenue, and accelerate sustainable and renewable energy generation.