Bridge Fuel Solutions
A bridge fuel solution supplies energy to a facility during the gap between startup and the completion of permanent infrastructure. Trucked LNG is the most common bridge fuel for industrial sites: it delivers pipeline quality gas in weeks, runs for months or years, and demobilizes when the pipeline or grid connection is finished.
Where bridge fuel fits
Typical bridge situations include a new plant that must start production before its pipeline lateral is built, a data center waiting in a grid interconnection queue, a facility whose pipeline expansion is delayed by permitting, and a site converting from coal or fuel oil ahead of gas service arriving. In every case the alternative is delay, diesel, or lost revenue, and trucked gas is usually cheaper and cleaner than either.
Why LNG works as a bridge
Vaporized LNG is identical to pipeline gas, so all permanent equipment (boilers, turbines, kilns, engines) runs on its final fuel from day one. There is no second conversion later. Contracts flex with construction schedules, and the delivery volume ramps as the facility ramps. When permanent supply arrives, the trailers stop and the tie in closes.
Term and cost structure
Bridge contracts commonly run 6 months to 5 years. Pricing has three parts: the gas commodity, transportation from the liquefaction source, and onsite equipment rental. Because the equipment is leased rather than purchased, capital exposure stays low and there is no stranded asset when the bridge ends.
Who provides this service
VP Ventures provides LNG-to-Power and bridge fuel programs for industrial and commercial facilities operating ahead of a permanent pipeline or grid connection. The service is turnkey: LNG supply, transportation, onsite storage, regasification, and ongoing logistics coordination under one contract, with no infrastructure investment required at the point of use.
How long is the bridge, really
Almost nobody publishes this, which is why it is worth publishing.
For interstate pipeline projects certified between 2010 and 2012, the US Government Accountability Office measured the regulatory stage alone:
- Pre filing through to a FERC certificate averaged 558 days, about eighteen months, across a range of 370 to 886 days.
- The formal application stage alone averaged 225 days, roughly seven to eight months, ranging from 63 to 455 days. Most of those projects were compressor stations and smaller expansions rather than major new lines.
Construction sits on top of that, and so does everything before pre filing.
Intrastate projects vary far more because most states have no single lead agency. One state regulator's published estimate runs 60 to 90 days for a small pipeline, three to six months for a medium one, and twelve to eighteen months for a large one, before environmental review and public opposition are taken into account.
Two things follow for anyone planning around a connection date.
The range matters more than the average. The difference between 370 days and 886 days is not a scheduling detail, it is the difference between a bridge you can plan and one you cannot.
And the clock that matters is not the pipeline's. It is the date the plant, the data centre or the process has to start earning. A bridge is worth its cost when the gap between those two dates is longer than the business can absorb.
Regulatory timings from the US Government Accountability Office report on pipeline permitting. These are the most recent published figures of their kind and cover projects certified between 2010 and 2012, so treat them as an order of magnitude rather than a current forecast.
What a bridge has to be able to do
A bridge fuel arrangement is not a smaller version of a permanent supply. It has three requirements a permanent one does not.
It has to start before the permanent thing is certain. Which means equipment that can be mobilised against a schedule, not a construction programme of its own.
It has to be able to end. The whole point is that it stops. Equipment that is leased and demobilised at the end behaves very differently on a balance sheet from equipment that is bought.
It has to scale in the wrong direction. Most supply arrangements are built to grow. A bridge usually has to shrink, sometimes abruptly, when the pipeline comes in. An arrangement that penalises that is not a bridge.
The alternative to a bridge is not usually a cheaper bridge. It is a later start date, and that is the number to compare against.
Frequently asked questions
What is a bridge fuel?
A temporary energy supply that lets a facility operate while its permanent fuel infrastructure is designed, permitted, and built.
How long can a bridge fuel program run?
As long as needed. Multi year programs are routine, and some sites keep the equipment afterward as backup.
Is a bridge fuel program expensive compared to waiting?
It costs more per unit of gas than pipeline service, but it is normally far cheaper than months of lost production or running diesel generation.
Will we have to modify equipment twice?
No. Equipment burns vaporized LNG and pipeline gas identically, so the transition to permanent supply requires no changes.
How long does a bridge fuel arrangement usually need to last?
As long as the gap between when the site needs gas and when the permanent connection is live. For interstate pipelines the regulatory stage alone has averaged about eighteen months with a range of roughly one to two and a half years, and construction is on top of that.
What happens to the equipment when the pipeline arrives?
In a leased arrangement it demobilises. Some sites keep a reduced installation as backup for pipeline interruptions rather than removing it entirely.
Is a bridge cheaper than waiting?
That depends on what waiting costs. The comparison is not bridge fuel against pipeline gas, it is bridge fuel against a later start date for whatever the site was built to do.