The Global Energy Security Testbed (GEST) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory represents a substantial scale-up in capability from existing energy security assistance, allowing access to leading-edge expertise, research facilities, and a virtual testbed for modeling complex infrastructure systems.

Argonne’s energy system models and high-speed computing facilities form the backbone of GEST, enabling U.S. Government partners and allies to collaborate with engineers and scientists to rapidly understand complex and dynamic energy security environments. The testbed will also make it possible to consider interdependency risk between energy systems, including electric power and natural gas, and lifeline infrastructure such as transportation, water, and telecommunications.

GEST provides insight critical to identifying asymmetries vulnerable to exploitation, and the consequences of potential disruptions, including cross-border cascading failures. The foresight that GEST facilitates can inform targeted crisis avoidance or mitigation strategies, improving the energy security and resilience of U.S. partners and allies.