Quiet energy revolution underway in Japan as dozens of towns go off the grid

The city of Higashi Matsushima chose to create a self-sustaining system capable of producing an average of 25% of its electricity without the need of the region's local power utility. — Reuters

TOKYO/HIGASHI MATSUSHIMA, JAPAN: A northern Japanese city's efforts to rebuild its electric power system after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami mark a quiet shift away from the country's old utility model toward self-reliant, local generation and transmission.

After losing three-quarters of its homes and 1,100 people in the March 2011 temblor and tsunami, the city of Higashi Matsushima turned to the Japanese Government's "National Resilience Program," with 3.72 trillion yen (RM139.77bil) in funding for this fiscal year, to rebuild.