News [Microgrids for a post - Fukushima Japan]

Before the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami four years ago this month, Toyota's automotive plant in Miyagi Prefecture, north of Fukushima, had relied entirely on the Tohoku Electric Power Co. for energy. But when the disaster shut down power to its plant for two weeks, managers realized that the company needed a more secure source. The factory couldn't be independent of the electric grid, but it could manage that energy better- and supplement it.