Japan power plant shutdown raises fear of shortage in sweltering heat

Employees of Tokyo Metropolitan Government office work inside the office with partially switched off lights during daytime to take power-saving measures as Japanese government issues warning over possible power crunch due to heatwave in Tokyo, Japan onJune 30, 2022. - Reuters

TOKYO (Reuters):Japan's electricity grid creaked on Thursday (June 30) under the strain of Tokyo's hottest June since records began, with the unexpected shutdown of a power plant raising fears that tens of millions of people could be deprived of power on another scorching day.

Temperatures of around 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) were expected in some parts of greater Tokyo, home to 37 million people, on the sixth day of a heatwave that began after the earliest end to the capital's rainy season in decades.