Deerfield strives to show rural Wisconsin towns a solar-powered future

The village of Deerfield, 20 miles east of Madison, might look like a lot of small Wisconsin towns.

That is, until you look up. 

In this community of around 2,500 people, solar panels are on the high school and the village hall, on a pavilion beside the fire station, and in the field behind the wastewater treatment facility. Half a dozen solar projects have saved the village around $700,000 in electricity costs since 2018, according to funders.

Communities across the state are increasingly considering similar renewable energy projects, especially as grants and federal tax credits have brought down the cost, Deerfield village administrator Maggie Darr said.

But Deerfield’s move toward solar power has been faster than most, thanks to a couple of solar enthusiasts who’ve decided to foot the bill in hopes of setting an example for other rural Wisconsin communities.

Cal and Laurie Couillard have lived on the outskirts of Deerfield since the 1980s. Cal previously owned Componex, an Edgerton-based manufacturing company that makes precision rollers for use in printing presses and other industrial applications. He became a solar power convert in 2017 after he installed enough panels on his factory to supply nearly all its energy. 

“I knew that climate change was a big issue, but putting that solar array in at my factory made me realize that the solution was here. It was, financially, a no-brainer,” he said. 

When he sold the business to a competitor in 2018, he dedicated himself to helping others switch to solar. He used 60% of the company’s stock to fund the Couillard Solar Foundation, which gives grants to help schools and nonprofit organizations add solar panels. To date, the foundation’s Solar on Schools and Solar for Good programs have funded nearly 300 projects across the state. 

In Madison, the foundation has funded projects at a VFW Post, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, the Dane County Humane Society, St. Vincent de Paul’s Williamson Street complex and Madison College.

But the projects that have transformed Deerfield were funded not by the foundation but by $1.5 million to $2 million in private donations by the couple. 

“It made sense for us to do it here, because this is where we live,” said Cal, who runs the foundation from the same building that was once his kids’ elementary school. His kids later attended Deerfield High School, which now has about 1,500 solar panels on its roof. 

“This was kind of like a project for my wife and I, so we didn’t want to hurt the foundation by drawing funds away … from what we were doing in the state,” Cal said.

“What we’ve done here in this village is produce about $1 million worth of electricity that was generated from the sun, not from fossil fuels,” he said. “Essentially … we’re trying to show people that if you make this investment, you can position your community much better.”

$1 million saved?

A website maintained by the Couillard Solar Foundation tracks electricity generated by the solar panels the couple has installed in Deerfield. The website shows an estimated energy savings of around $672,000 to date, but Cal says that’s an underestimate. 

Electricity in Wisconsin currently costs closer to 15 cents per kilowatt hour, not the 10 cents per kilowatt hour rate used on the website, Cal said. He estimates the true energy savings to date would be around $1 million at the higher rate.

Cal’s estimate also excludes a solar array installed on a massive pavilion behind the village’s community center and food pantry, as Cal is still negotiating with Alliant Energy to get it hooked up to the grid.

The energy savings directly benefits Deerfield residents, Darr said. She points to the panels the Couillards installed in 2018 in a field behind the village’s wastewater treatment plant building. Beneath the panels, the family planted a prairie of native perennial plants to create habitat for pollinators and other animals.

“I think that project in particular is really a good use of that underutilized space. Not only is it now using a more energy efficient type of energy but potentially saving the sewer customers … money in the long term,” Darr said.

Apart from financial benefits, Darr said, spotting panels on a walk or drive through town might just get local residents thinking more about solar. 

“I think it’s definitely a great thing for the community,” Darr said. “I think it raises curiosity among people and allows people to get a little bit more informed about what opportunities are out there.”

Darr, who became village administrator last November, has spent more than a decade working in Wisconsin local government. She said funding like the Couillards have provided in Deerfield can be the difference between renewable energy being a dream and a reality. 

In her previous job as operations director for the city of Janesville, for example, she recalled the City Council exploring the idea of installing solar panels on the site of a closed landfill, which couldn’t be used for most other building purposes. 

“We didn’t ultimately end up doing that project because the return on investment was just really not good,” Darr said, explaining that the city would have had to install fiber to connect the site to Alliant Energy’s grid. “It was just millions of dollars in investment, and it just didn’t turn out to make sense.”

Judging from the conferences she attends and the industry magazines she reads, Darr said local governments are increasingly trying to incorporate renewable energy into their building projects. 

“In the last couple years, there’s been a lot more grant funds available for reducing carbon emissions … so I think you’ll probably continue to see more and more,” she said.

As vice president of Madison-based Legacy Solar Co-op, Peter Fiala meets with leaders in small and medium-sized communities across the state who are considering solar installations. He regularly points to Deerfield as an example of how rural solar can work. For some, that’s more persuasive than hearing about what’s been done in a city like Madison. 

“People need to kind of get brought into their comfort zone,” Fiala said, noting that many of the people he talks to have been tasked with studying solar options but have no prior knowledge on the issue. “They’re really just starting from scratch.” 

The co-op attempts to reduce financial barriers by offering bonds that let community members invest in solar projects and receive a modest return. Fiala said having private funders like the Couillards is huge for governments or organizations trying to be frugal. 

“It’s liberating,” Fiala said.

‘Climate change philanthropists’

The Couillards are now looking to spread their model to other rural parts of Wisconsin. 

“If this is just done in Deerfield, that’s not good enough. We have to get everybody else invested in this,” Cal said. 

One effort involves the foundation working with an unnamed partner in Vernon County to help low- to moderate-income homeowners install solar panels on their roofs. 

“It’s pretty clear that our state government is dysfunctional … (and) our federal government is dysfunctional, but I think that the community level is where we can get this job done,” Cal said.

Cal said he hopes his funding will inspire other rural residents to become “climate change philanthropists,” adding their wealth to the cause. 

“The best way to displace the burning of fossil fuels is to replace them with the alternative,” Cal said.

Fiala said at least a small number of Wisconsinites fit that bill.

“I think there are people out there that are kind of unsure where they should put their money,” Fiala said. “Definitely the solar industry, and a lot of other causes, could leverage those funds to help organizations and municipalities get solar savings faster.”

Tiana Snyder manages solar programs at the nonprofit RENEW Wisconsin, including administering the Couillard Foundation’s Solar for Good grant. She called the Couillards’ work in Deerfield “really impressive.” 

“They’ve shown that integrating solar — especially into public services like police stations, fire departments and schools — can lower energy costs and enhance energy resilience,” Snyder said. “The success that Deerfield has had can clearly be a leading example for what’s possible in Wisconsin.”