Fuel Supply

This depends on the type of fuel used by the generator. Natural gas is the most reliable because it is supplied by underground pipelines with various redundant paths to ensure delivery. The Department of Defense commissioned a study (insert link) to determine the most reliable fuel for their military bases in the US. The report concluded that natural gas was far superior to all other fuels.

Diesel is readily available under most circumstances, but availability can be an issue during prolonged weather-based outages. This is due to two issues: First, weather-related outages typically are caused by downed power lines that may make roads impassable. Second, if the destruction is sufficiently severe, FEMA may be dispatched and enact diesel rationing to assure priority supply for the most life-threatening uses. Diesel availability issues have been a frequent problem for hurricane prone areas.