When we spot a solar panel on a roof as we drive around Green Bay, we get excited. But not everyone is cheered by the sight. What we see as evidence that Green Bay is embracing clean energy is, to some, just a bad aesthetic choice no different than painting your home neon yellow. People are entitled to their opinions, to each their own. But there is a clear, categorical difference between choice of paint color and how a family chooses to power their home.
Living with your neighbor’s occasional lapses in good taste is just a fact of life on most streets. But, there are neighborhoods that were built with covenants intended to maintain aesthetic standards. These are governed by Home Owner Associations (HOAs). Covenants can be a great thing that help neighborhoods protect the look and feel that their homeowners value. However, some of these covenants ban rooftop solar PV. And that’s not something they are allowed to do. We have a right to power our homes with solar energy.
Meet Wisconsin State Statute 236.292 (2)
In Wisconsin, we’ve recognized that our energy future is more than just personal expression, like having risqué ornamental topiary on your front lawn. For more than 30 years, your right to install solar on your rooftop has been protected in the law by Wisconsin State Statue 236.292 (2). It states:
All restrictions on platted land that prevent or unduly restrict the construction and operation of solar energy systems, as defined in s. 13.48 (2)(h) 1.g., or a wind energy system, as defined in s. 66.0403 (1)(m), are void.
This means that covenants, deed restrictions, easements, and other legal mechanisms related to real estate and property can’t restrict the construction and operation of solar and wind systems. In other words, if your HOA tells you that you can’t install rooftop solar, their legal understanding is more than 30 years out of date! The sun and its energy belong to everyone, no one can stop you from using it.
If your HOA has stated or implied that installing rooftop solar would be in violation of the neighborhood’s covenants, please let them know that those types of restrictions are void.