Nebraska HOA Solar Rights

Section 1: Overview — Solar rights for HOAs in Nebraska

Nebraska doesn't have a solar-access statute that voids or limits declaration-based prohibitions on solar energy systems.¹ No provision of the Nebraska Revised Statutes overrides a community association's recorded restrictions on solar, and repeated bills to create such an override have failed.² Nebraska does have solar and wind energy easement provisions in Chapter 66, Article 9, but those enable voluntary, recorded easements between consenting property owners and don't give a unit owner a right to install solar over an association's objection.³ Nebraska's all-public-power electric system and its net metering rules govern the utility-customer relationship, administered by the local public utilities and reported to the Nebraska Power Review Board, and stay separate from any question of association authority.⁴ Condominiums answer to the Nebraska Condominium Act, based on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act, while planned-community HOAs answer to their recorded CC&Rs, the Nebraska Nonprofit Corporation Act, and common law.⁵ On the three-part national map of solar rights, Nebraska sits in the easement-only category, not the strong-protection category.¹ The sections below set out the statutory framework, the operational rules for associations, and recent legislative activity.

Section 2: The statutory framework

2A. Solar-access provision (or its absence)

Verification against the Nebraska Revised Statutes, including Chapter 66 (energy) and the Code generally, confirms that Nebraska has no solar restriction-override. No statute prohibits a community association from restricting or banning solar energy systems through its declaration, and none voids covenants that do so.¹ The consequence runs direct: a Nebraska association's authority over a unit owner's solar installation is set by the recorded declaration and the applicable community-association statutes, not by any solar-specific override. Where the governing documents restrict or prohibit solar, those restrictions get analyzed as ordinary restrictive covenants, which Nebraska courts treat as enforceable contracts unless a specific legal defense applies.⁶

This absence shouldn't be confused with the utility-side rules. Nebraska stands as the only state served at retail entirely by consumer-owned electric utilities, with no investor-owned utilities.⁴ Its net metering statute, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 70-2001 to 70-2005, enacted in 2009 by LB436, requires local distribution utilities to interconnect and net-meter qualified customer-generator facilities rated at or below 25 kilowatts, subject to a cap that relieves a utility of the obligation once net-metered capacity reaches one percent of its average aggregate customer monthly peak demand, with annual reporting to the Nebraska Power Review Board.⁷ That framework governs the relationship between a solar owner and the utility. It doesn't constrain, expand, or otherwise address an association's authority over whether and how solar may be installed within the community.

2B. The easement provisions and the governing framework

Nebraska's solar and wind energy provisions appear in Chapter 66, Article 9. The stated purpose is to promote public health, safety, and welfare by protecting access to solar energy and wind energy.⁸ A "solar agreement" is defined as a right, whether or not stated as a restriction, easement, covenant, or condition, in a deed, will, or other instrument, executed to insure adequate access of a solar energy system to solar energy.⁹ An instrument creating a land right for a solar or wind agreement must be in writing and recorded with the register of deeds in the county where the property is located, and a solar or wind agreement may be enforced by injunction or other civil action.³ These run as voluntary tools: they let a property owner obtain, by agreement with another owner, a recorded easement protecting sunlight access. They don't give a unit owner any right to install solar over an association's objection, and they don't void declaration-based solar restrictions. The provisions address both solar and wind; this page covers solar.

The governing framework differs by community type. Condominiums created on or after January 1, 1984 answer to the Nebraska Condominium Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-825 et seq., enacted in 1983 and based on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act.¹⁰ Nebraska adopted the Uniform Condominium Act for condominiums only. It didn't enact the full Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, so the Act doesn't extend to planned communities.⁵ Condominiums created before January 1, 1984 remain under the predecessor Nebraska Condominium Property Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 76-801 to 76-823, except where the newer Act reaches events occurring after that date.¹¹ Planned-community HOAs have no comprehensive Nebraska statute. They answer to their recorded CC&Rs, the Nebraska Nonprofit Corporation Act, § 21-1901 et seq., for corporate formalities, and common law.⁵

2C. The role of CC&Rs and architectural review

Because Nebraska has no restriction-override, the recorded declaration and its architectural-review provisions stand as the operative rules for solar. The order of precedence runs straightforward: if a restriction-override statute existed, it would control over conflicting CC&R terms, but because none does, the declaration controls, subject to the applicable statute and general doctrines such as reasonableness, the contractual construction of covenants, and waiver or selective-enforcement defenses.⁶ For a condominium, the Nebraska Condominium Act requires the declaration to state any restrictions on use of units, and the unit owners association exercises the powers granted by the Act and the declaration, so architectural authority over solar flows from those instruments.¹² For a planned community, architectural authority rests on the CC&Rs and the association's corporate powers under the Nonprofit Corporation Act, with no statutory architectural-review standard supplied by the state.⁵ In both settings, an association may typically require advance application and review, and may condition approval on placement and appearance, to the extent the governing documents allow.

Section 3: What a Nebraska HOA can and cannot do regarding solar

A. Approval and architectural review

A solar installation is generally subject to whatever architectural-review process the governing documents establish, and an owner typically must apply for and obtain approval before installing. For condominiums, that authority derives from the declaration together with the Nebraska Condominium Act, which requires the declaration to state use restrictions and vests management powers in the association; this authority is mandatory where the documents so provide.¹² For planned communities, the authority derives from the CC&Rs and common law.⁶

B. Permissible and impermissible restrictions

Nebraska imposes no statutory cap on how far an association may restrict solar, because there is no restriction-override. The limits get set by the declaration's own terms and by general contract and equity doctrines, so an association may, depending on its documents, restrict or even prohibit solar.¹ There is no state-law reasonableness standard specific to solar, and the easement provisions in Chapter 66 don't operate as a constraint on associations.³

C. Governing-document and disclosure considerations

Solar rules typically appear in the declaration, in architectural guidelines adopted under it, or in board rules. Amendments follow the procedure in the governing documents; for condominiums the Act supplies default amendment mechanics, while planned communities follow their CC&Rs and corporate bylaws.¹³ For condominiums, the Act's public-offering-statement and resale provisions require disclosure of the governing documents to purchasers, which is how a buyer learns of any solar restriction; there is no solar-specific disclosure mandate.¹⁴

D. Dispute resolution and remedies

A dispute over solar gets litigated as a covenant-enforcement or contract matter. Trial-level disputes proceed through the Nebraska District Courts, with appeals to the Nebraska Court of Appeals and further review by the Nebraska Supreme Court, which may also bypass the Court of Appeals and take certain cases directly.¹⁵ No solar-specific statutory remedy or fee-shifting provision exists; the easement provisions allow enforcement of a recorded solar agreement by injunction or civil action, but that runs as a remedy between the parties to an easement, not a remedy against an association.¹⁶

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

LB137 (2025-2026), "Prohibit certain restrictions on solar energy devices and pollinator gardens and provide a cause of action," introduced by Sen. George Dungan, would have created Nebraska's first HOA solar override.

An earlier bill, LB1119 (2024), also introduced by Sen. Dungan, would have voided association covenants restricting solar and created a cause of action; it was indefinitely postponed on April 18, 2024.¹⁸

B. Recent appellate rulings

No published decision of the Nebraska Court of Appeals or the Nebraska Supreme Court in the past 36 months addresses a community association's architectural authority as applied to solar energy systems. Nebraska's known solar-versus-association disputes have resolved at the trial level or by private settlement rather than by reported appellate opinion.¹⁹

C. Active legislative debates

Proposals to enact HOA solar protection have recurred in the unicameral, nonpartisan Legislature — LB621 in 2017, LB49 in 2023, LB1119 in 2024, and LB137 in 2025-2026 — but none has advanced, and no such measure is currently in effect.²

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Solar-rights regimes fall into three broad categories: strong-protection states whose statutes void or limit association solar restrictions — for example, California Civ. Code § 714, Florida Fla. Stat. § 163.04, Arizona A.R.S. § 33-1816, Colorado C.R.S. § 38-30-168, Nevada, and Texas Prop. Code § 202.010; solar-easement-only states, which enable voluntary easements but don't override associations; and no-protection states, where the declaration fully controls.¹ Nebraska belongs in the easement-only category, because its Chapter 66 solar and wind easement provisions enable voluntary recorded easements without limiting association authority, and easement provisions alone don't place a state in the strong-protection category.³ For multi-state operators, that means a portfolio playbook built around California or Colorado solar mandates doesn't transfer to Nebraska, where the declaration controls. Legislative momentum exists in the form of recurring bills but has produced no enacted protection.²

HOA Weekly's Nebraska Solar Rights coverage updates quarterly as the Legislature and the Nebraska courts act. No federal rule comparable to the FCC's OTARD rule extends to rooftop solar, so Nebraska's state law controls the question here.

Footnotes

1. Palmetto, "Solar Access Laws by State" ("Despite proposed bills in the past, there are currently no solar access laws in Nebraska that apply to an HOA's power.") ↩
2. Unicameral Update, "Bills would bar HOA prohibitions on solar installations, political signs" (Nebraska Legislature) ↩
3. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 66-911.01, Solar agreement; wind agreement; land right; requirements (recording), and § 66-912 (enforcement by injunction or civil action) ↩
4. Nebraska Power Review Board (Nebraska is served at retail entirely by consumer-owned electric utilities) ↩
5. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-825, Nebraska Condominium Act (condominiums only; Nebraska did not enact the full Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act); planned communities governed by CC&Rs and the Nonprofit Corporation Act, § 21-1901 et seq. ↩
6. Homeowners Protection Bureau, Nebraska Solar Energy and Wind Energy Law (Nebraska courts treat restrictive covenants as enforceable contracts subject to defenses) ↩
7. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 70-2003 (net metering; interconnection; one-percent aggregate cap); see also §§ 70-2001 to 70-2005 (25 kW qualified facility; annual report to the Nebraska Power Review Board) ↩
8. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 66-901, Legislative findings; purpose (protecting access to solar and wind energy) ↩
9. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 66-909, Solar agreement, defined ↩
10. Nebraska Condominium Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 76-825 to 76-894 (Laws 1983, LB 433; applies to condominiums created after January 1, 1984) ↩
11. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-826, Sections, applicability (pre-1984 condominiums under §§ 76-801 to 76-824) ↩
12. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-827, Terms defined (declaration; executive board; association), and related declaration-content requirements of the Nebraska Condominium Act ↩
13. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-838, Creation of condominium; recording; amendment of declaration ↩
14. Nebraska Condominium Act, public-offering-statement provisions, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 76-879 to 76-883 (disclosure of governing documents to purchasers) ↩
15. Nebraska Judicial Branch, court structure (District Court; Court of Appeals; Supreme Court, which may bypass the Court of Appeals) ↩
16. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 66-912, Solar agreement; wind agreement; how enforced ↩
17. Nebraska Legislature, LB137 (109th Legislature, 2025-2026); indefinitely postponed April 17, 2026 ↩
18. Nebraska Legislature, LB1119 (108th Legislature, 2024); indefinitely postponed April 18, 2024 ↩
19. Nebraska Supreme Court and Court of Appeals opinions (no reported solar-specific association-authority decision in the review window) ↩