MERC Guide

In many industries outside of the maritime sector, it is common to establish generators and backup fuel supplies in case the electrical grid supply is interrupted. Remote sites often maintain their own fuel storage to cater for disruptions to fuel deliveries. The same strategy can work for maritime businesses wanting to guarantee fuel supplies. With electrification, there comes the ability to rely on batteries for local energy storage.

The sorts of steps you could consider are:

• Forward Fuel Contracts
  Simply establishing a forward fuel contract with your fuel supplier can ensure that you are insulated from price volatility and supply disruptions. You depend on your fuel supplier maintaining the priority of your fuel supply at the agreed price, and that is only as good as the contract you create to protect your interests.

• On-site Fuel Storage
  Storing fuel locally can buffer your needs against supply. By storing more than you will need between fuel shipments you ensure you have fuel available if supply is disrupted, or the price exceeds what you want to pay. Of course, if a fuel spike turns into a longer price rise then you may still need to purchase fuel at the higher price, and there is a cost to maintain local fuel stores.

• On-site Batteries
  Once you start to electrify your energy needs it becomes obvious that grid brownouts or blackouts can become problematic. Investing in local battery storage can help ensure you have a smoother supply of electricity when you need it, and can help you shift your grid use to periods of the day when it is cheaper to purchase energy.