What’s more valuable than feeling self-assured amid global insecurity? It’s a big question to ask, and an even bigger state to achieve. Where AI campuses are concerned, the ability to keep the lights on, no matter what’s happening outside the door, may be a good place to start.

Force majeure, extreme weather events like hurricanes, storms, and cold or heat snaps all contribute to power insecurity, on top of already congested gas and electricity grids, particularly during peak demand.

In this DCD>Talks episode, Eric Reaman, president and CEO at Cashman Preload Cryogenics, speaks to the true meaning and enduring value of fuel assurance in an increasingly unpredictable world.

Fuel assurance as a concept

Fuel assurance means accounting for these risks and putting arrangements in place to guarantee fuel deliverability – the ability to operate through system-defining events without relying solely on just-in-time gas delivery.

“The only way to truly achieve that guarantee is through on-site storage and an ‘inside the fence buffer.’ We’ve termed it the energy-air gap, in terms of fuel availability and fuel assurance,” says Reaman.

Historically, utilities prioritized reliability in the 1960s and 1970s. Vertically integrated utilities controlled everything within their fence and built in resilience through measures such as peak shavers. Fuel assurance looks back at what worked then, recognizes its value, and brings those principles to bear in the here and now.

Natural gas in data centers today

With utility transmission upgrades now measured in years rather than quarters, data center developers are being forced to rethink their power supply strategies.

The conversation has shifted from “how quickly can I get a grid connection?” to “how fast can I get power?” – removing grid capacity as a limiting factor for revenue generation.

Behind-the-meter solutions have become a necessity, as Reaman explains:

“It was survival. Now, behind-the-meter is about data center developers and hyperscalers gaining control and the ability to scale. Once they determine that the grid is not an option, they realize the next bottleneck isn’t the turbines or the engines – it’s the fuel path.”

While much of the focus has been on adding new generation, the gas grid remains constrained, and that constraint is increasingly problematic. It’s one thing to build more generation, but without equal consideration for new gas transmission infrastructure or the reliability of the fuel path, those constraints will continue to limit performance.

Ultimately, power performance depends on fuel. As data centers evolve into gigawatt-scale campuses, developers, hyperscalers, and utilities must treat them at the city-scale level they now represent, and determine the right approach to ensuring fuel availability.

Liquefied natural gas storage

Enter Preload Cryogenics, a Cashman company. After spending the last two decades delivering liquid storage solutions across a range of applications, Reaman has turned his focus to the cryogenic storage of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Where interruptible solutions fall short, Preload Cryogenics has developed a multi-million-gallon LNG storage tank capable of providing five days of run-through time. When coupled with interruptible service, customers can effectively achieve 100 percent firm capacity.

“Today, we’re known for designing and building small- to mid-scale LNG storage tanks, specifically for fuel assurance. We see a significant opportunity to bring that experience and expertise into the data center world right now.”

Liquefied to minus 260°F, LNG has been the quiet backbone of the utility system for the past 50 years. In its liquid state, it is far more efficient to store and transport. These properties – volume reduction and the ability for on-site storage – enable data centers to ride through curtailments and unforeseen events with a high degree of reliability, creating a true energy buffer behind the fence.

LNG offers the long-duration capability needed to withstand stress events. Yet amid noise and misinformation, the picture is not always clear:

“The natural gas we use to produce LNG is abundant, and when people hear that, they assume it’s infinite. If a data center owner has a pipeline outside their fence, they believe they have unlimited gas. But the reality is that the grid was designed for base-load events, not stress events.”

Reaman adds that pipelines are hydraulic systems – they can be curtailed, and they can fail.

“This is a true island-mode data center that’s being built, and we’re providing that fuel assurance.”

His advice is straightforward: Learn from the past. As data centers become the new utilities, they must look to how utilities have historically operated – understanding what worked and what did not. They are now stewards of power and must prioritize fuel availability and deliverability. Fuel assurance should be viewed in the same way as fire suppression – built in from the outset, because the risk of not having it when it’s needed is unacceptable.

Watch the full DCD>Talks episode with Cashman Preload Cryogenics here.