BY EDISON JOSEPH GONZALES
Patrick Roland De Guzman’s bet is that a river can generate electricity without a dam – using a turbine designed for the Philippines’ shallow, rocky waterways.
In an exclusive BNC Digital interview, De Guzman detailed how his Marissa Turbine evolved from a childhood question about floodwaters into a renewable-energy technology designed for Philippine rivers.
The 25-year-old Filipino inventor started working on the idea in 2017, when he was 16 and still in senior high school. Nearly nine years later, he continues to develop the technology for waterways that are shallow, rocky and have relatively low flow.
The idea began with floods in Bulacan, where De Guzman grew up. As a young boy, he wondered whether the moving water that made electricity dangerous during floods could instead be harnessed to generate it.
He was inspired by engineer Aisa Mijeno’s saltwater lamp concept, which helped shape his early thinking about generating electricity from saltwater.
That led to his first patented concept, the “salt panel,” which he envisioned as a solar-panel equivalent for saltwater that could charge a cellphone. The idea proved difficult to scale because, as De Guzman put it, “if we enlarge it, it will be too big for the area that needs it. And the materials will be too expensive for it to be cost-competitive.”
He then turned to a technology already used to convert moving energy into electricity: the turbine. “If we look at our generators, they have turbines. Or the wind turbines, it’s also a turbine. The big hydro, there are a lot of turbines. So, I thought, why don’t we make a turbine for the river?” he said.
That produced the Saltric X500, his first turbine, which was rated at 500 watts. De Guzman said “Saltric” was a combination of saltwater and electricity.
His mother sometimes called it “Saltik,” a Tagalog slang word used to describe someone acting crazy, eccentric, moody or unreasonable.
After his mother, Marissa, died, De Guzman continued developing the technology. He researched the meaning of her name and said he found a Latin meaning associated with “off the sea.” That led him to name the device the “Marissa Turbine, Turbine of the Sea.”
The technology has since evolved into four versions, De Guzman said.
The Marissa Turbine was designed with Philippine river conditions in mind. De Guzman said imported systems he studied are generally designed for deeper rivers and require full submersion, while his turbine can operate even when it is not completely underwater. “Our rivers here are rocky and sometimes shallow,” he said, explaining why he designed the system around local river conditions.
He said the design can operate in shallow and deep rivers and is intended for the Philippines and other Asean countries with similar geographical conditions.
De Guzman has two river deployments in Bulacan: one in the Meycauayan River, where the turbine operates with tidal flow, and another in the Angat River downstream of the dam.
A 1-kilowatt unit produces 1 kilowatt-hour when operated for an hour, De Guzman said. Because water flow can weaken during the day, he estimates daily generation at about 18 to 20 kilowatt-hours.
That amount, he said, can provide electricity for as many as four rural households using five lights, three electric fans and a refrigerator. It would not be enough to power an air conditioner.
The technology can also be deployed in multiple units. De Guzman likened a larger installation to a solar farm, calling the concept a “Marissa Turbine Farm.”
The intended use is in off-grid communities that need their own sources of electricity.
De Guzman said local government units have electrification programs for communities that are not connected to the main grid. Such areas, he said, currently use diesel generators.
His ambition is to deploy turbines in those waterways one by one, test their performance and eventually build larger turbine farms where the technology proves suitable.
He sees solar and water power as complementary technologies rather than competitors. “I don’t see solar as a competitor because solar is top-tier,” De Guzman said, adding that “what we should focus on is our long-term contest with diesel generators. We want to replace diesel generators.”
He said solar generation was strong when water supply was low last summer, but rainy conditions can weaken solar output even as electricity demand rises. “So, they should help each other. Because your only enemy here is fossil fuels like the diesel generator,” he said.
De Guzman also sees potential in rivers connected to the sea, where tidal movement keeps water flowing through high and low tides.
He said the turbine could theoretically work in flood-affected areas because stronger water flow could provide more energy. But the company has not tested the technology during an actual flood. “The flood? Not yet,” he noted, adding that while it is feasible, “I don’t want to do it because it’s insensitive.” He explained why: “I’m generating electricity, but other people are drowning.”
The company is also studying the potential environmental effects of deploying turbines at scale.
De Guzman identified soil erosion as a concern because turbine foundations can affect sediment movement and cause buildup near the equipment. He said the company uses bathymetry studies to determine the appropriate distance and positioning to control soil erosion.
He also said the turbine is not intended to introduce pollutants into waterways. “In terms of pollution, I think we’re not releasing any microplastics and we’re not releasing any chemicals into the rivers,” he said.
The physical appearance of the equipment is another issue the company wants to address. “At the same time, it might become an eyesore. So, we need to improve the design so that it’s submerged under the water,” De Guzman said.
De Guzman wants the turbine to be easier to deploy than conventional hydropower projects.
He said traditional hydroelectric projects can require water permits and clearances involving the Department of Energy, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and National Commission on Indigenous Peoples.
The Marissa Turbine is intended to be more of a plug-and-play system, he said: “You don’t have to do civil works. As long as your river is flowing, you don’t have to build a dam or a diversion. You can put it there.”
The turbine would still be secured with a foundation, De Guzman said, to keep it from being easily moved by the current.
The company also has another application for the technology. De Guzman said it has deployed small turbines in hotels using an “In-Pipe Turbine,” which is installed inside water pipes and is also part of the Marissa Turbine technology.
For De Guzman, the turbine is also a bet on Philippine energy independence. “So, for us, let’s not be dependent on energy from other countries,” he said.
He also wants the project to create jobs in the Philippines and eventually establish a Filipino product in renewable energy.
The project carries a deeply personal legacy.
His mother initially viewed the invention as a distraction from college, De Guzman said. Before she died, however, she told him she was proud that she had an inventor.
He describes the turbine as a “labor of love” and connects it to the resilience required to keep the company alive. “It’s more of resilience,” he said, explaining that “your startup will be pitiful if you give up. You’ll just let it die. That’s the challenge.”
De Guzman wants the invention to outlast him. “I want people to remember Marissa more than me. Because it will thrive generations after generations rather than me,” he said, adding, “There are more people who are more intelligent than me. So if they improve Marissa Turbine, the improvement from technology will be better.”
Reflecting on his journey from a high school student staring at floodwaters to a 25-year-old developing a deep-tech startup alongside his legal studies, De Guzman offered a final thought for young creators: “You should start first. Because I know, when we were young, until now, we’re not old. But when you’re old, you’re already old. But when you’re young, you have a lot of ideas in your head. Whole ideas. And you shouldn’t be afraid to fight for your ideas.”
For inquiries about the Marissa Turbine and Saltric Power’s work, readers may contact Saltric Power / PDG Engineering Services at saltriccompany@gmail.com.