Jan 21 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Meg Bernhardt The Frederick News-Post, Md.

Randy Williams didn't have to worry about homeowners association rules when he installed solar panels on the roof of his Buckeystown house. But as solar power becomes more popular throughout the state, he thinks people should be allowed to go solar, even if they live in a development with an HOA.

As a solar power proponent and green builder, he describes a bill introduced by Delegate Sue Hecht last week to allow solar panels in all neighborhoods as "excellent."

Hecht's bill would protect homeowners who want to put up solar, regardless of local association rules. It would also allow them to create an easement for the sun rays that land on their roof to prevent neighbors from building obstructions. Local delegates Joseph Bartlett, Galen Clagett and Rick Weldon are cosponsoring the bill.

Williams lives on a one-acre lot in a house that is both solar powered and built to be energy efficient.

He has five or six neighbors, and while he doesn't say they love the large, flat panels on his roof, he does say they have been "very interested."

"I think the big hurdle is education," Williams said. "I keep pointing out to people what the advantages are."

People get especially excited when they see his electric meter going backwards or feel the water the solar system has heated, he said. "(Solar panels) really are the wave of the future and this state is out there progressively encouraging people to think about solar." Williams thinks Hecht's bill is as much about encouraging solar users like himself as it is about preventing legal problems for those interested in installing new solar panels.

During the 2007 General Assembly session, Hecht, a Democrat representing Frederick County, championed a new law to increase the amount of solar power electric suppliers use and allow residents to get credit for solar power they produced.

She introduced the new homeowners bill because solar activists told her that HOAs in other states had tried to stop solar panels. She wants HOAs in this state to know Maryland places a high priority on renewable energy. "Our (2007) bill has made Maryland one of the leading solar states in the country," Hecht said. "This is just another step." If Maryland residents don't change their energy consumption, the state could face rolling brownouts by 2011, she said. "We're in the time in America where we have got to start thinking differently."

Tony Clifford, president of Gaithersburg-based Standard Solar Inc., has worked with a few Maryland HOAs since his company started about 18 months ago.

Standard Solar installs solar panels throughout the region, including in Frederick County.

He said the associations haven't objected to the panels, but often their regulations were written before resident solar panels were an option. Regulations will often specify that roofs be a certain style, and that doesn't include solar panels. Clifford said he has been able to work with the groups to get those rules changed.

"I think that they realized that times have changed since those regulations were written and this was something that people in their community wanted to do."

He believes Hecht's bill is a good idea because there have been problems in other states. It is proactive to tackle the issue before a problem arises, he said.

At his Buckeystown home, Williams will continue to promote solar energy. He owns a business that builds energy efficient homes, though they don't install solar panels.

He hopes Hecht and other lawmakers will someday consider laws to make homebuilding more efficient, such as facing homes to the south so they are better heated by the sun.

He believes solar is the future.

"It's not going to be too many years that people are going to look around and say 'Why haven't I done that?'" he said. Hecht's bill will be scheduled for a hearing before the House Environmental Matters Committee in the coming weeks.