diff --git a/patches/gromacs-2016.config b/patches/gromacs-2016.config
index 03f65f9e10a72823dcc4648c695166cffa631af6..ef1f8956558db8698e979d0b134694468398dea9 100644
--- a/patches/gromacs-2016.config
+++ b/patches/gromacs-2016.config
@@ -11,6 +11,12 @@ cat << EOF
 PLUMED can be incorporated into gromacs using the standard patching procedure.
 Patching must be done in the gromacs root directory  _before_ the cmake command is invoked.
 
+On clusters you may want to patch gromacs using the static version of plumed, in this case
+building gromacs can result in multiple errors. One possible solution is to configure gromacs
+with these additional options:
+
+cmake -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF -DGMX_PREFER_STATIC_LIBS=ON
+
 To enable PLUMED in a gromacs simulation one should use
 mdrun with an extra -plumed flag. The flag can be used to
 specify the name of the PLUMED input file, e.g.:
diff --git a/patches/gromacs-5.1.4.config b/patches/gromacs-5.1.4.config
index 97adeda473c03a4d2d6305ec2532afda8bc5fa59..ae65d400e7de4984db03a0a74349b1a50704db20 100644
--- a/patches/gromacs-5.1.4.config
+++ b/patches/gromacs-5.1.4.config
@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@ cat << EOF
 PLUMED can be incorporated into gromacs using the standard patching procedure.
 Patching must be done in the gromacs root directory  _before_ the cmake command is invoked.
 
+On clusters you may want to patch gromacs using the static version of plumed, in this case
+building gromacs can result in multiple errors. One possible solution is to configure gromacs
+with these additional options:
+
+cmake -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF -DGMX_PREFER_STATIC_LIBS=ON
+
 To enable PLUMED in a gromacs simulation one should use
 mdrun with an extra -plumed flag. The flag can be used to
 specify the name of the PLUMED input file, e.g.: