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This five-part series explores the operational characteristics of diesel fuel, which is the most common form of industrial-scale backup generation. With the rapid rise of AI-driven data centers, the series will examine how conventional backup practices need to adapt to meet the industry’s growing demand for resiliency and performance.
The fifth and final installment of our Diesel Dilemma series takes a closer look at retainers, staffing, and “guarantees” that crack under stress.
So far, our Diesel Dilemma series has covered the weather, truck math, supply chain, and the logistics footprint of diesel backup power for large loads. But after exploring those potential roadblocks, there’s one more threat to your resiliency plan that’s often overlooked: supplier reliability during a crisis.
You may have contracts, retainers, and “priority” service agreements. But let’s talk about what loyalty looks like when the region is in turmoil, and everyone is calling for diesel deliveries at the same time to replenish onsite storage when it runs dry.
The retainer fantasy
In every power outage crisis, hospitals, emergency responders, and critical infrastructure typically get prioritized for diesel deliveries. As a result, many nonessential operations lock in trucks and fuel by paying a retainer, which is basically a standby fee paid in advance to ensure that a supplier keeps capacity available for your facility in case of emergency. On paper, it sounds smart. You’re paying for readiness. But in a widespread emergency, your supplier’s capacity often tops out. A retainer doesn’t magically create extra trucks or fuel when demand surges, and contract language can often allow suppliers to void the terms of the retainer in certain situations.
Many facilities also sign priority agreements, which are meant to guarantee preferred delivery during shortages. So, when fuel is scarce, deliveries are triaged due to critical infrastructure getting served first, while everyone else waits. Those agreements are only as strong as the supplier’s actual capacity and logistics network, meaning they can fall apart under pressure and leave noncritical operations like data centers nudged aside if fuel is scarce. Many facilities learn they’re not always at the front of the queue, even if they’re paying for it. After Hurricane Sandy, data center operators found themselves scrambling.
As one VP of Operations at a facility in New Jersey explained, “Contracts with two fuel suppliers helped, but you also had to make sure your provider could operate with no power… we’ve now added out-of-region backups too.”
Even when contracts and retainers are in place, diesel delivery reliability collapses quickly during widespread blackouts. The aftermath of Winter Storm Uri and Hurricane Beryl in Texas exposed just how fragile those supply chains can be. Many fuel terminals, refineries, and distribution hubs were without power for days, halting deliveries even to critical facilities. Fuel depots and suppliers across the region couldn’t pump fuel because backup generation was limited or nonexistent. With trucking routes blocked and no refueling options, fleets were immobilized, creating cascading delays for everyone relying on diesel. As Canary Media reported, this left hospitals, grocery stores, and even first responders waiting days for fuel that was technically available but stranded. For large-scale operations like data centers, this illustrates a key vulnerability: even well-funded and redundant fuel contracts offer no protection when the infrastructure supporting that fuel is itself down. When the grid fails regionally, diesel delivery networks fail right alongside it.
Staffing and logistics pressure
Even if fuel is available from your suppliers, the industry doesn’t have an unlimited pool of drivers to deliver it. Drivers in a region impacted by a long-duration outage could also be dealing with their own situations with their homes and families. So, in many cases, staffing runs lean. Additionally, when routes become dangerous or terminals go offline, some drivers simply refuse or can’t take the run due to safety concerns or personal emergencies. That means trucks and fuel will be sitting idle, regardless of your contract.
Recent research from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) highlights that the industry is already struggling with a shortage of qualified diesel technicians and drivers, further tightening capacity when emergencies strike. This shortage makes it difficult to mobilize enough certified personnel to keep trucks on the road and equipment operational. During widespread outages, these existing workforce gaps compound, leaving even well-prepared suppliers unable to meet regional delivery demands.
Moving beyond diesel to ensure resilience
Diesel’s promise of reliability is only as strong as its weakest link. And every link in that chain depends on a fragile web of suppliers, drivers, terminals, and infrastructure that must all perform perfectly under pressure. History has repeatedly shown that during large-scale outages, those systems fail together, leaving critical operations stranded without fuel. True resilience means removing that uncertainty.
By contrast, onsite generation powered by natural gas eliminates many of these vulnerabilities. It leverages existing underground pipeline infrastructure that remains operational even when roads are blocked or refineries are down, providing a continuous, utility-scale fuel supply without the need for trucks, storage, or manual refueling. For data centers and other mission-critical facilities, this approach delivers a higher level of reliability with cleaner operation, lower maintenance, and fewer points of failure when it matters most.
In the end, true resiliency isn’t stored in a tank or delivered by a convoy of trucks. It’s built into a smarter, always-on energy system powered by cleaner natural gas.
The Diesel Dilemma is a five-part series of articles that examines how diesel-fueled backup power brings hidden risks that span weather, logistics, security vulnerabilities, land use, and supply chain fragility. The articles were meant to challenge operators to rethink traditional models for backup strategies by exposing the operational complexity and failure points embedded in diesel systems. The simple fact is that diesel can no longer ensure true resilience, and these articles explored the idea that future reliability requires solutions that reduce, rather than reinforce, these systemic dependencies. We hope you enjoyed reading the series as much as we enjoyed sharing it.
This article was originally published on LinkedIn.
