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The just-commissioned Calistoga hydrogen microgrid is a telling example of how public money can end up funding energy pathways that deliver little of what they promise. At first glance, the project appears well-intentioned. PG&E has positioned it as a resilience measure for a California community that faces wildfire-driven grid shutoffs. The idea is to provide local power through a hydrogen fuel cell system during outages, avoiding diesel generators and the associated emissions. It is an easy story to sell to regulators, politicians, and residents.
The problem is that the actual performance, in terms of both emissions and efficiency, looks nothing like the clean, forward-looking image in the press releases…