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AirportImprovement.com      July | August 2026
ENVIRONMENTAL 
MBS 
baseball affiliate, the Great Lakes Loons, 
which has players, coaches and scouts 
flying in and out all spring and summer. 
A growing number of the airport’s 
customers drive electric vehicles that 
require overnight chargers, especially during 
long trips and when the weather is cold. 
“I had seen a lot of EV vehicles in our 
parking lots, and we had no charging 
component,” Canders remembers. “It 
was a bit of a disservice to some of our 
customers.”
In one case, a passenger parked an 
electric GMC Hummer in the parking lot 
for five weeks. When he returned, the 
battery was dead, and the behemoth was 
stuck at the airport. “You can’t tow those 
easily,” notes Canders. In fact, it took two 
to three days to figure out how to extract 
the massive vehicle from the airport lot. 
That incident and others drove home 
the point that MBS needed slow-trickle 
chargers, and 
Canders started 
thinking about how 
to add them. The 
answer began to take 
shape when he met 
Corey Harper, aviation 
business development 
manager for Veregy, at the Michigan Airport 
Executive Conference in October 2023. 
Harper had presented a session about 
using renewable solar energy for revenue 
generation and tax credit incentives, and 
Canders followed up for more specifics. 
“We started talking and I learned that 
MBS—like most airports—has a lot of 
utility bills,” Harper recalls. “Airports have 
big power needs, and energy costs are 
not going down any time soon.” 
After Canders decided to move forward 
with Veregy, he looped in RS&H, the airport’s 
primary architect and engineering contractor 
for years, to handle FAA permitting and 
Part 77 compliance (Safe, Efficient Use and 
Preservation of the Navigable Airspace).
“The FAA looks at solar farms for their 
physical attributes, like how tall they are 
and where they’re located,” explains 
RS&H Principal Aviation Engineer David 
Joye. “FAA also reviews the glare study, 
which determines whether glare from the 
solar panels could 
blind a pilot in the 
air. We didn’t foresee 
any issues because 
the canopies were 
so far away from the 
approach path.” 
Saving Money, Increasing 
Revenue
Canders received notice to proceed from 
the Airport Commission in December 
2025. By January 2026, the project kicked 
off using corporate venture capital and 
local funds. No financing was needed. 
In addition, Joye says that between tax 
credits and reductions in energy costs, the 
airport will recoup its capital investment in 
no time. 
“COVID hit all of the airports really hard,” 
he adds. “Flights were dramatically down 
for quite a few years. One of the things 
I know James [Canders] was tasked 
with was finding cost savings or cost 
regeneration, and this project did both.” 
Based on a 2023 energy study, the 
arrays are expected to save 52% of 
the terminal energy costs, 80% in the 
administration building and 99% of the 
airfield lighting energy usage.
The solar project was divided into 
two phases. During Phase 1, the airport 
installed a solar carport system and 
infrastructure for up to six Level 2 EV 
charging stations in the rental car return 
lot. Avis, Budget, Hertz and Dollar were 
responsible for purchasing and installing 
their own respective charging kiosks. 
During Phase 2, MBS added solar 
canopies over its short-term parking lot 
and solar arrays for its administration 
building and airfield electric vault. Other 
key components of Phase 2 were an 
infrastructure system with Level 1, 2, and 
DC fast chargers for electric vehicles, and 
a charging station from Beta for electric 
aircraft. 
Construction on Phase 2 began in June 
2025, but the bond that ultimately funded 
it wasn’t approved until months later in 
early November. In a mutual act of trust 
and show of confidence, Veregy and the 
airport invested money ahead of the bond 
completion. 
“Veregy put a lot of faith in us, and 
we put a lot of faith in them,” Canders 
remarks. “It’s good to have a partner 
that’s willing to work with you and really 
understand that there’s going to be 
unforeseen delays and some expected 
delays. Veregy was willing to put up 
money and stick their neck out for this 
project like we were for them.” 
DAVID JOYE
COREY HARPER

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