Drones becoming important tool for New York Power Authority

Bob Beckstead, Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
·3 min read

Feb. 8—WHITE PLAINS — Drones are becoming a more important tool for the New York Power Authority's ability to conduct inspections and collect valuable data from its assets.

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Joseph F. Kessler said NYPA had more than 757 drone missions to examine its assets in 2023, and they're continuing to forge ahead with drone uses.

"All is going very well here. We have a very robust platform these days on mission management. That's what we're trying to do," Kessler told NYPA trustees this week.

He said officials realized the usefulness of drones in 2017 when NYPA representatives were dispatched to Puerto Rico to address damage from Hurricane Maria.

"What we learned there is you just get a really good picture," Kessler said. "DEC (the Department of Environmental Conservation) came with some of their officers and supported in that dispatch. They were DEC officers with drones, and they had great pictures of dams and infrastructure. We learned a lot, that once you have that good digital image, you can do a lot with it. They've become the way we do business in terms of inspecting and watching our system."

But, he said, using drones requires training for the operators, some of whom serve in other roles with the organization.

"The drone pilots all have what I'll call day jobs that are dispatched from different parts (of NYPA). It could be a chief mechanic one day and then drone operator. We've trained a number of folks to do that," he said.

Looking ahead, Kessler said the next step is for Federal Aviation Administration approval to use the drones outside their visual line of sight.

"We're using that to do inspections. It's kind of automated with drones. That's the next step for us to do that," he said.

But, he said, more drone usage means more qualified individuals to fly them.

"We realize it's going to be an ongoing effort. So, it's important for us to make sure that there's another generation of drone pilots coming in. So, we're working very closely with STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) to make sure that we're doing outreach programs that are very important," Kessler said.

NYPA conducted 19 weeks of STEM outreach programs in 2023, including one at Madrid-Waddington Central School. Students faced off against NYPA unmanned aerial system pilots in a drone soccer tournament complete with broadcasters and live scoring as part of NYPA's program to introduce students to emerging utility technologies and prepare them for the workforce.

"We've competed with some of these kids to operate drones. We don't always win, but we do learn a lot," Kessler said.

As they expand the use of drones, he said they also need to be cognizant of hackers.

"As we get better at this, so do adversaries. So, we also have to think about counter-UAS (unmanned aircraft system) programs and things somebody may be using maliciously. How do we manage that as well?" he said.