The Federal Aviation Administration has granted the New York Power Authority license to fly unmanned aircraft systems beyond the visual line of sight of the pilot in command in a one-mile radius in any unrestricted, or Class G, airspace without prior approval. FAA regulations require pilots to maintain visual contact while operating a drone. The waiver allows operators to conduct missions without the requirement for the pilot or an observer to see the unmanned aircraft.

Mike Muirhead, Public Utilities Director for the public power community of Garden City, Kansas, detailed a recently completed master plan for the city’s utility, as well as the steps that the Garden City utility has taken to improve reliability for the city while he has served as Public Utilities Director.

Michigan public power utility Traverse City Light and Power on April 3 held a community event focused on building electrification. TCLP also invited its community to engage in a comprehensive electrification survey.

The Lower Colorado River Authority recently announced plans to double the energy production from the new peaker plant it is building in Central Texas by adding a second generating unit. Each of the units can supply up to 190 megawatts of dispatchable power to the grid.

Governor Kathy Hochul on April 5 announced $3.5 million in technical assistance funding is now available to support the development of electric grid modernization project proposals through the state’s Grid Modernization Program.

The American Public Power Association, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, and the Edison Electric Institute asked the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to extend by 30 days the comment period on a proposed rule that would require some critical infrastructure operators to report covered cybersecurity incidents and ransomware payments to CISA.