Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Pref. ¨C A Miyagi city¡¯s efforts to rebuild its electrical power system after 3/11 mark a quiet shift away from Japan¡¯s old utility model and toward self-reliant, local generation and transmission.
After losing three-quarters of its homes and 1,100 people in the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, the city of Higashimatsushima in Miyagi Prefecture turned to the government¡¯s ¡°national resilience program,¡± with ?3.72 trillion in funding for this fiscal year, to rebuild.
The city of 40,000 chose to construct microgrids and decentralized renewable power generation to create a self-sustaining system in Tohoku capable of producing an average of 25 percent of its electricity without the need of the region¡¯s power utility.
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