Two regimes, and only one of them moved

New Hampshire law has never given a unit owner a right to install solar over a contrary covenant, and the 2026 session did not change that. What it changed is the utility relationship: no interconnection application, no net-metering enrolment, no utility approval, no utility fee.

Stripping away the utility's objection makes the association's objection the only one left. That is the structural pattern New Hampshire keeps producing — the state loosens the public-law layer and the private-law layer becomes the operative restriction, exactly as it did with accessory dwelling units.

What a board can expect, and decide before it arrives

From January 1, 2027, an owner who has read that plug-in solar needs no permit and no utility approval will hang a panel on a balcony rail and plug it into an outlet. The board's first knowledge of it will be visual.

A board that wants a position should settle these questions now, in writing, rather than at the first complaint:

Whose surface is it? Balcony, deck, patio, railing, exterior wall — in a New Hampshire condominium each of those is unit, limited common area or common area according to the declaration, and the answer is not intuitive. A railing is frequently common area even where the balcony floor is limited common area.

Whose electricity is it? A device plugged into a unit's own circuit offsets that unit's bill. A device plugged into a common-area outlet offsets the association's, which is a different conversation and arguably a benefit to be shared.

What does the architectural review clause actually cover? Most declarations require approval for alterations, attachments or changes to exterior appearance. Whether a portable device that is plugged in and can be removed is an "alteration" is genuinely arguable, and the answer depends on the words.

What is the safety position? The act allows installation without a building permit if safety codes are met, which means nobody inspects. An association carrying master property coverage has an interest in how a panel is mounted on a fourth-floor balcony in a state with real wind and ice loads, quite apart from how it looks.

The useful middle position

A blanket prohibition is available to most New Hampshire boards on most declarations, and it is likely to be the least popular decision a board makes in 2027.

The alternative that answers the real concerns is a rule rather than a ban: mounting method and wind rating specified, no penetration of the building envelope, no attachment to common-area railings or walls, connection to the unit's own circuit only, removal at the owner's expense on transfer, and the owner responsible for damage. That is enforceable under the ordinary architectural-review clause and it does not require a declaration amendment.

What did not change, and is worth knowing alongside

For shared solar — an array on a clubhouse or carport crediting multiple unit accounts — the regime got more formal, not less. The Department of Energy's new net metering chapter, En 900, Document #14568, effective April 27, 2026, provides at En 909.01(b) that "No customer-generator shall begin acting as a host until it has received a registration number from the department," with the department having 90 days to issue or deny.

So New Hampshire in 2026 deregulated the smallest solar installations entirely and added a registration gate to the shared ones. Neither one is guidance about the other.

A sourcing caveat

One secondary source refers to SB 540 as "Chapter 89." The General Court's own record gives Chapter 262, signed July 2, 2026. Use 262.

What to watch next

The first covenant dispute, which will arrive in the spring of 2027, and whether any 2027 bill proposes a New Hampshire solar-access statute. Nothing on the 2027 House legislative service request list as filed does.