22-year-old Pinoy creates prototype of tidal turbine

A 22-year-old Filipino has developed his own prototype of a tidal turbine to harness the power of the waves to generate electricity.

According to Martin Javier's Game Changer report on "24 Oras," Monday, Patrick De Guzman named his device the Marissa Turbine in honor of his late mother, who passed away last year.

He also said that the name Marissa means "of the sea" in Latin.

"Kung mapapansin natin ang Philippines, archipelago tayo eh, ang dami nating tidal waves, rivers, canals," he said. "Ang dami nating tubig to create electricity."

Patrick said he started to have the idea for the turbine when he was still 16 years old. In 2022, he finally got the chance to build a prototype with the help of an international non-government organization, Department of Science and Technology, Ateneo de Manila University, and De La Salle University.

According to him, it takes 10 hours to charge a battery that can be used by a typical Filipino household.

"It will be modular in the future, and it will be accessible, and it will be easy to deploy," he said about his turbine.

As of November last year, there are nine ocean energy projects in the Philippines awarded by the Department of Energy. All of them are still in the pre-development stage.