AN inventor from Pozorrubio, this province has proposed a solution to the high cost of electricity in the country in order to benefit consumers, especially low-wage earners.

Jaime P. Imbat of barangay Cablong, Pozorrubio said the only way to lower electric rate is to change the fuel that most Independent Power Producers (IPPs) use, particularly imported coal.

Imbat who said he would register his patent for his invention under the name JPI Fuel, explained that although coal is one of the cheapest fuel being used in running IPP plants, it still has a substitute fuel that need not be imported and is available anywhere in the Philippines especially in the urban areas.

Imbat said his company has a substitute fuel fitted to the thermal power plants without the need of re-engineering plant facilities.

He said under a technology he devised , it is possible to use organic waste materials of which the country has unlimited supply in running thermal plants in order to produce power.

Waste, he added, is a renewable source of energy that can generate 200,000 jobs nationwide. Imbat said by using organic wastes instead of imported coal, cost can be reduced by as much as 75 percent.

In generating electricity, he said, IPPs spend P18 per kilowatt they produce but Napocor sells one kilowatt of electricity only at P6 which is a loss by P12 per kilowatt.

The price of coal is P60,000 per metric ton and the coal-fed thermal plants need 5,922 million metric tons annually and they can produce only 3,198 megawatts.

By this, based on calculation, he said Napocor loses P200 billion on fuel yearly running existing thermal plants.
Imbat said he already proposed his technology to responsible government agencies but has yet to get their attention on his invention.

Among the agencies he already approached in connection with his invention are the Department of Energy, Department of Science and Technology, Napocor and the Malacanang Action Center.

“There is a solution to our economic crisis and the solution is, we change the fuel being used in running the thermal plants, “ Imbat said. (PNA)