Ohio solar panel laws give residential property owners a workable path to install: homeowners associations generally cannot ban panels outright, investor-owned utilities must offer net metering, and residential-scale systems are exempt from property tax increases. The biggest change for anyone shopping in 2026 is federal, not state. The 30 percent residential clean energy credit expired on December 31, 2025, and new installations no longer qualify.
Can Your HOA Block Your Panels
Ohio Senate Bill 61, signed in 2022, prevents a homeowners association from blocking a resident’s solar installation when the HOA does not own or maintain the roof or exterior walls where the panels would go.1Ohio Senate. Antonio Commends Passage of Bill to Allow Solar Panels in Condominiums The HOA can still impose reasonable restrictions on size, location, and installation method, but it cannot issue a blanket prohibition through rules, regulations, or bylaws.
One exception matters. If the HOA’s original declaration of covenants already contains a solar ban, that restriction may still stand. Amending a declaration typically requires a 75 percent vote of all homeowners, which makes existing bans difficult to reverse and equally difficult to impose after the fact. Read your declaration before you buy equipment. The SB 61 protections apply to association rules and bylaws, not to restrictions written into the original governing documents.
Protecting Access to Sunlight
Ohio does not recognize a default right to sunlight. If your neighbor plants a row of trees that eventually shades your array, you have no legal recourse unless you already have a recorded solar easement. Ohio Revised Code Section 5301.63 lets neighboring property owners create one by written agreement.2Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5301.63 – Solar Access Easement Requirements
To be enforceable, the easement must describe the vertical and horizontal angles that define the protected airspace and spell out any limits on building height or vegetation growth on the neighboring parcel. It must also state whether the easement runs with the land or terminates under certain conditions. Record it with the county recorder’s office. Without recording, a future buyer of the neighboring property has no notice and may not be bound by it. Once recorded, the easement attaches to both properties and survives changes in ownership.2Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5301.63 – Solar Access Easement Requirements
Net Metering
Ohio Administrative Code 4901:1-10-28 requires every investor-owned electric utility to offer a net metering tariff to customers who generate their own power. A qualifying system must sit on the customer’s premises, operate in parallel with the grid, and be sized at no more than 120 percent of the customer’s electricity needs at the time of interconnection.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Administrative Code 4901:1-10-28 – Net Metering Solar, wind, biomass, landfill gas, hydropower, microturbines, and fuel cells all qualify.
The utility installs a meter that measures electricity flowing both ways. When your panels produce more than your home uses in a billing cycle, the excess becomes a monetary credit at the energy component of the utility’s standard service offer. That credit carries forward on future bills indefinitely. The utility is not required to cut you a check for the balance, and if you close your account or switch providers, unused credits may be lost.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Administrative Code 4901:1-10-28 – Net Metering
Read the credit rate carefully. Your bill bundles energy, transmission, distribution, and various riders together, and the net metering credit covers only the energy portion, which is typically lower than the total per-kilowatt-hour rate you pay. If you buy electricity through a competitive retail electric service (CRES) provider rather than the utility’s standard offer, credit terms depend entirely on your contract. CRES providers can set any rate, credit structure, or refund they choose for excess generation.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Administrative Code 4901:1-10-28 – Net Metering
Property Tax Exemption
Ohio Revised Code Section 5709.53 exempts qualifying solar energy systems from real property taxation. For systems installed on or after January 1, 2010, the exemption covers any fixture or real property included in an energy facility with an aggregate nameplate capacity of 250 kilowatts or less.4Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5709.53 – Exemption of Solar, Wind or Hydrothermal Energy System and of Certain Energy Facilities A typical home installation runs 5 to 15 kilowatts, well under the threshold.
In practice, your county auditor will not raise your assessed value because you added panels. Even if the system increases the home’s market value, your tax bill stays what it would have been without them.
The Federal Tax Credit Is Gone for 2026 Installations
Through December 31, 2025, homeowners who installed solar could claim a 30 percent federal credit on eligible equipment and installation costs under 26 U.S.C. Section 25D. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 had extended the credit through 2034, but 2025 legislation repealed the extension. The statute now reads that the credit “shall not apply with respect to any expenditures made after December 31, 2025.”5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 25D – Residential Clean Energy Credit
For Ohio homeowners pricing solar in 2026, this is the single biggest change to the financial picture. A $25,000 system would have generated a $7,500 federal credit just months earlier. That credit is no longer available on new installations. If your system was installed and placed in service before January 1, 2026, you can still claim the credit on your 2025 tax return using IRS Form 5695.6Internal Revenue Service. Residential Clean Energy Credit
One nuance for 2025 filers: the IRS treated public utility subsidies as purchase-price adjustments that reduced your qualifying expenses, while net metering credits for electricity sold back to the grid did not reduce the basis.6Internal Revenue Service. Residential Clean Energy Credit
Permits and Grid Interconnection
Every solar installation in Ohio needs local permits before construction. At a minimum you will need a building permit and an electrical permit. Ground-mounted systems typically need a zoning permit as well. Ohio follows the Residential Code of Ohio and the National Electrical Code as adopted by the Ohio Board of Building Standards, so requirements are broadly consistent statewide even though municipalities handle their own permitting.
A permit application generally requires engineered structural plans showing the roof or ground structure can support the array, an electrical diagram covering the panel configuration, inverter, disconnects, and connection to your home’s electrical system, and specification sheets for all manufactured components. Setback rules dictating how far panels must sit from property lines and roof edges vary by municipality. Permit fees commonly range from around $100 to several hundred dollars depending on system size and inspections required.
Some Ohio jurisdictions have adopted SolarAPP+, a free web-based platform developed by the Department of Energy that automates permit review for residential solar and solar-plus-storage. Eligible applications receive instant approval after the platform checks the design against code; more complex systems route for manual review.7U.S. Department of Energy. Streamlining Solar Permitting with SolarAPP+ If your city or county uses it, expect a faster timeline.
Grid interconnection is a separate process from local permitting. Ohio’s investor-owned utilities use a tiered review based on system capacity. A typical residential installation of 25 kilowatts or less pays an application fee of around $50 and goes through a streamlined Level 1 process. The application requires a site plan showing property layout, equipment locations, and the route of the connection to the grid, along with a one-line electrical diagram. After installation and a third-party inspection, the utility authorizes operation and swaps in a bidirectional meter.8FirstEnergy. Ohio Retail Interconnection
Do not energize the system before the utility issues a certificate of completion. Operating it earlier violates interconnection rules, and the utility will not track or credit excess generation until the bidirectional meter is installed.
Signing a Solar Contract
Door-to-door solar sales are common. Federal law gives you a baseline protection: under the FTC’s cooling-off rule, you have three business days to cancel any contract worth $25 or more that you signed at your home. The clock starts the day after you sign. The seller must give you written notice of your right to cancel at signing. If that notice is missing or defective, the three-day period may not have started.9eCFR. 16 CFR Part 429 – Rule Concerning Cooling-Off Period for Sales Made at Homes or at Certain Other Locations To cancel, send written notice by midnight of the third business day, excluding Sundays and federal holidays. The seller must return any payments within 10 business days and release any security interest in the transaction.
Beyond the cancellation window, read the contract. Leases and power purchase agreements often contain escalator clauses that raise your monthly payment by a fixed percentage each year. Compare the total cost over the full term against buying the system outright. Verify that the installer is a licensed electrical contractor under Ohio law before work begins.
Disposal at the End of a Panel’s Life
Panels typically last 25 to 30 years, so disposal is not an immediate concern for new installations. When a panel is eventually removed from service, it becomes solid waste regulated under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Panels that contain enough lead, cadmium, or other heavy metals to fail the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure are classified as hazardous waste under RCRA Subtitle C, which triggers stricter handling requirements.10U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. End-of-Life Solar Panels – Regulations and Management Thin-film panels containing cadmium telluride are more likely to fail the test than standard crystalline silicon panels. The EPA is working on a proposed rule to add solar panels to the universal waste regulations under 40 CFR Part 273.11U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Universal Waste Regulations for Solar Panels and Lithium Batteries When the time comes, contact your local solid waste authority before putting panels in the trash.