From January 2027, Colorado covenants banning plug-in solar are void
From January 2027, Colorado covenants banning plug-in solar are void
2026-09-10 · Colorado · Legislation
On January 1, 2027, a Colorado covenant that unreasonably prohibits a plug-in solar panel becomes void as a matter of public policy — and the statute reaches balconies, patios and decks that are limited common elements. HB26-1007 was signed by Governor Jared Polis on May 7, 2026. The act itself took effect August 12, 2026, but the provisions that bind associations operate “on and after January 1, 2027,” which gives Colorado boards this autumn to write a rule.1
This is not rooftop solar. Colorado has protected that since long before this bill, under C.R.S. 38-30-168. This is the small plug-in device that hangs on a railing and goes into a wall outlet.
What counts as a portable-scale device
New C.R.S. 40-2-140(1)(e) draws the line by wattage: a single photovoltaic system per address, with associated equipment, “designed or commissioned to supply a maximum power output of not more than one thousand nine hundred twenty watts to the electric grid,” and “labeled and listed by a nationally recognized testing laboratory.” The device must have anti-islanding — a feature that stops it energizing the grid during an outage — and a customer may not connect more than one device to a single wall outlet per address.2
The covenant rule, and the limited-common-element override
C.R.S. 40-2-140(7) does three things from January 1, 2027. It bars any person from directly or indirectly unreasonably prohibiting installation, use or operation of such a device. It declares that a covenant or restriction that “explicitly or indirectly unreasonably prohibits or restricts” one is “unenforceable and void as a matter of public policy.” And it makes the device an energy efficiency measure for the purposes of C.R.S. 38-33.3-106.7 — CCIOA's section on unreasonable restrictions on energy efficiency measures.
That third step carries the operative change. CCIOA's own rule at 38-33.3-106.7(3)(d) ordinarily keeps an energy efficiency measure off a limited common element. Subsection (7)(c) overrides it: “notwithstanding section 38-33.3-106.7(3)(d), a real property owner may install, use, or operate a device on real property that is a limited common element of a common interest community.” The balcony is in play.
What a board may still require
The statute does not leave associations without tools. It names four lanes of permissible restriction in subsection (7)(d), and a board that wants any say should be drafting inside them rather than outside.
An association may require prior notice of an installation. It may impose restrictions related to preventing fire or electrical overload of the existing electrical system. It may impose restrictions related to preventing damage or harm to a person or property. And it may regulate the location of the device. Subsection (9) reinforces the safety lane: installation “must be in accordance with fire code requirements and applicable local building codes that pertain to health and safety.”
Two further protections are available but only if the association actually adopts them, which is the point boards most often miss. Under subsection (7)(e) an owner “may be required to reasonably secure the device” to the unit or to a limited common element patio, deck or balcony that solely serves that owner's unit. And the owner “may be responsible for all liability and costs associated with the installation, maintenance, or removal” and “required to indemnify the community association and other owners” from related liability or costs. Neither is automatic. Both have to be in the rule.
What to do before January 1, 2027
Audit the governing documents for a flat ban. Any provision that prohibits solar devices, exterior appliances, or equipment on balconies is exposed as applied to these devices. From January 1 it is void by operation of statute — no owner vote and no amendment is needed to defeat it — and enforcing a void provision is how an association ends up paying for the other side's lawyer.
Adopt a portable-solar rule this autumn, in the four permitted lanes. A prior-notice requirement plus a location standard plus an electrical-load condition plus a secure-attachment and indemnity clause is a defensible package. An aesthetic rule dressed as a location rule is not.
Talk to the master-policy carrier and the local fire authority first if the community is stacked flats with attached balconies. Balcony photovoltaics in a multifamily building is a fire-code question before it is a covenant question, and subsection (9) makes the fire code controlling.
Where the fights will be
“Unreasonably” is undefined in the statute, and three friction points are visible on the face of the text.
The first is street-facing balconies, where a location rule and an aesthetic ban look identical from the outside and the association's motive becomes the issue.
The second is general common elements. Subsection (7)(c) authorizes installation on a limited common element, and (7)(e) contemplates securing the device to a patio, deck or balcony that solely serves the owner's unit. It does not authorize a device on a general common element, and an owner who reads the first half of the provision without the second will get this wrong.
The third is prior notice hardening into approval. The statute permits requiring notice. A rule that requires notice and then withholds a response indefinitely is a prohibition wearing a notice requirement's clothes.
For owners, the ceiling is the thing to keep in view: 1,920 watts to the grid, one device per address, one device per outlet, and a UL-listed unit. From January 1, 2027 it is also unlawful to sell, lease or rent a device above 391 watts in Colorado that is not labelled and listed. Anything larger than a plug-in panel is a rooftop solar question governed by different law, and this act does not move it.
Related Colorado HOA Topics
- HB26-1007, "Improve Customer Use Distributed Energy Resources" — bill page, Colorado General Assembly ↩
- HB26-1007 final act text, new C.R.S. 40-2-140 and the amendment to C.R.S. 38-33.3-106.7 (source of the quoted language) ↩
- 2026 Digest of Bills, Office of Legislative Legal Services (official summary and effective dates) ↩
- Colorado General Assembly 2026 Legislative Updates, Colorado Division of Real Estate (2026 legislation affecting common interest communities) ↩
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