The New York Power Authority (NYPA) has received a $125,000 grant from the American Public Power Association (APPA) Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Development (DEED) program to research and integrate light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology into its existing in‑house Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) program for vegetation management inspections along NYPA’s transmission lines. UAS, more commonly referred to as drones, have the potential to increase safety, lower cost, improve responsiveness and reduce the time to perform such inspections.