Peoria County, IL Solar Energy: HOA Restrictions (2026)

Section 15 of the Act, 765 ILCS 165/15, states flatly that the adoption of a bylaw or exercise of any power by the governing entity of a homeowners' association, common interest community association, or condominium unit owners' association which prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting the installation of a solar energy system is expressly prohibited. Section 5 explains the legislature's intent: protecting public health, safety, and welfare by encouraging solar energy development and preventing any measure, however unintended, that ends up blocking solar use on a home covered by an association.

Section 10 defines a 'solar energy system' broadly, covering the collector, storage mechanism, and supporting components used to generate electricity or heat and cool gases, solids, or liquids with sunlight. Section 20 goes further than the flat ban in Section 15. Once an association member asks for a written energy policy statement, the association has 90 days to adopt one, and that statement must at minimum restate the Act's protections. A board may set the specific configuration of panels on a given roof face, for example choosing where on that face they sit, but it cannot keep any element off every roof face and cannot let its configuration choice cut the system's estimated annual electrical production by more than 10%.

The board also cannot require a specific product line, such as solar shingles over panels, cannot ask about a homeowner's energy usage, cannot impose conditions that hurt a manufacturer's warranty, and cannot condition approval on financing or ownership structure. Section 25 still requires the system to meet whatever state and local building or electrical permitting standards apply, so Peoria County's building permit process is untouched; only association-level bans and roadblocks are preempted.