Nonprofit advancing solar projects will host fundraising event in Dane County

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A nonprofit that helped schools and nonprofits gain solar power will host a fundraising event in Dane County.

The Couillard Solar Foundation on Saturday, May 31 will host its fourth annual Solstock Storytelling Festival at a plaza east of the foundation’s offices at 10 Liberty St. in Deerfield, Wis. The event will feature live music and speakers, and attendees will get to vote for different groups from around Wisconsin as they compete in a storytelling competition for solar panel prizes.

Since 2018, the foundation has awarded nearly 300 grants for schools and nonprofits in locations such as Fitchburg, Superior and Menasha to help bring their solar projects to fruition, CSF officials said.

“One of our goals is to connect with communities, our communities and people in the community so they know more about us,” said Jackie Harrison-Jewell, the executive director of CSF.

For the first time, different groups will share their projects and be awarded prizes of up to 10 kilowatts of solar panels, at a value of roughly $3,000, CSF officials said. The donation is in addition to any solar grants they might have and will receive some of the money collected from voting tickets.

The second and third place prizes will receive half that number of panels – but everyone who competes gets to walk away with solar panels, Harrison-Jewell noted.

Solstock attendees will get to see a first-hand example of a modular solar canopy developed by CSF as the canopy for the day’s event, Harrison-Jewell said. The canopy was developed by Cal Couillard, founder of CSF, and his partner Amer Arafat, she added.

CSF is still working on a distribution system but has introduced at least 20 canopies to the world, Harrison-Jewell said. The smallest size has five rows of three solar panels, which would power a moderately sized home. The canopy can be expanded to hold 17 kW worth of solar panels, parking spaces underneath and EV chargers, she added.

Solar energy is both an energy and cost saver, Harrison-Jewell said. She noted the system created good-paying jobs for installers and created resilience for communities when outages and natural disasters happen. If a church or community center is hooked up to a solar-powered battery, it can use the lasting power to shelter those who need it when the grid is down, she added.

In 2024, CSF’s awards primed more than $4.6 million in community solar projects and nearly $1.3 million for Wisconsin schools, officials said. Event sponsors include Hoffman EV, Legacy Solar Co-op of Wisconsin and Ethos Solar.