The PDF below is a white paper providing a comprehensive analysis of solar easements in the United States, defining them as legal mechanisms that are essential to ensure that sunlight is not obstructed to solar energy systems.
The paper explains that, because common law has historically rejected a right to sunlight in the United States in favor of vertical land development, statutory solar easements had to be created as a legal device for the protection of solar investment. The paper explains the merger of legal and engineering requirements required for an easement to define for a three-dimensional "solar skyspace," which is enforceable against purchasers of property in the future.
The paper also discusses the importance of easements in expediting project permitting and indicates the patchwork of inconsistent state laws regulating legal access to sunlight. Finally, the paper concludes by indicating that improvements in technology, such as 3-D solar modeling, are improving the delivery and enforcement provisions of these legally complex agreements.