  Under the increasing need to decarbonize energy systems, there is coupled
acceleration in connection of distributed and intermittent renewable resources
in power grids. To support this transition, researchers and other stakeholders
are embarking on detailed studies and analyses of the evolution of this complex
system, which require a validated representation of the essential
characteristics of the power grid that is accurate for a specific region of
interest. For example, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act
(CLCPA) in New York State (NYS) sets ambitious targets for the transformation
of the energy system, opening many interesting research and analysis questions.
To provide a platform for these analyses, this paper presents an overview of
the current NYS power grid and develops an open-source
(https://github.com/AndersonEnergyLab-Cornell/NYgrid) baseline model using
publicly available data. The proposed model is validated with real data for
power flow and Locational Marginal Prices (LMPs), demonstrating the
feasibility, functionality, and consistency of the model. The model is easily
adjustable and customizable for various analyses of future configurations and
scenarios that require spatiotemporal information about the NYS power grid with
data access to all the available historical data and serves as a practical
system for general methods and algorithms testing.
