Fall is here and as the leaves start to change and drop across the northern hemisphere, one of the most important solar events is also occurring—the National Solar Tour. The tour, now in its 18th year, isn’t a stuffy conference in some far-flung place or city. Rather, it allows people to go into their neighbors’ homes and neighborhood businesses—the ones who take advantage of solar power. 

Over the past few weeks, collegiate teams from across the world over have furiously toiled to rebuild their solar-powered homes at Orange County Great Park in preparation the Solar Decathlon. And today (Oct. 3)—ready or not—they’re opened to the public. That’s despite the federal government’s shutdown earlier this week even though the decathlon is sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE). “The Federal Government shutdown will have no impact on the visitor experience or the collegiate teams at Solar Decathlon 2013,” according Orange County Great Park. 

The Paris of the Plains, Kansas City, Mo., will soon be gleaming with new solar arrays, thanks to a new partnership between engineering, procurement, the construction company Black & Veatch and the commercial solar installer Brightergy. The companies have recently formed a strategic alliance to develop $100 million in commercial solar energy projects. Among the projects, Black & Veatch will install commercial photovoltaic (PV) rooftops in Kansas City.

On Oct. 1, 2013 the U.S. government shut down over Congress’s inability to pass a funding bill. The shut down is primarily being blamed on the Republican-controlled House, which has tried to eliminate funding for Obamacare—or at least delay it for a year. Thus far, they’ve tried to de-fund or eliminate the program through various procedures more than 50 times and each one has failed. Now they’re holding the federal government’s employees and its work for the public hostage in an attempt to route the health care program. And while solar isn’t the first concern as this stalemate continues, the solar industry could be affected in a number of ways, ranging from research to incentives to regulating the electric grid. 

The 250 megawatt solar farm that the Moapa Band of Paiutes are building on tribal property was purchased by First Solar last week from K Road Power Holdings. The project is the first utility-scale solar project on a Native American reservation. 

One rather odd—but somehow sticking—protest against solar and wind power is that they cause fossil fuel power plants to release significantly more emissions as they cycle electric production up and down to balance the load of electricity on the grid. A new study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) essentially calls that concern hogwash and dispels the myth—again. It’s the latest positive news for the wind and solar industries.

Environment California held a webinar on Sept. 25 discussing its new report, “Will Solar Power Have a Home in California?” that examined the different scenarios of how net metering policy changes could impact California’s solar industry. The report was written before legislation (AB 327) passed the California legislature, but the legislation awaits Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature. Depending on how AB 327 is implemented, it could still have a large impact on the residential solar market. 

The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced a new report on Sept. 25 that shows a roadmap of how to reduce the soft costs of solar over the next eight years. 

New York has introduced a new, standardized solar permitting process that municipalities across the state can adopt in an attempt to help reduce the soft costs of solar and increase the growth of the industry. New York may be the first state that offers a unified permitting process to its municipalities. 

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) on Sept. 23 offered an olive branch to Chinese photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers and the United States. The olive branch represents a proposed compromise between the U.S. and Chinese solar industries, where both parties would benefit.