https://www.siliconvalley.com/2024/10/23/hydrogen-startup-verdagy-opens-california-plant-at-risky-moment/

A laser-wielding robot hovers over a nickel tray in Verdagy Inc.’s new California factory, inspecting the seams of what will become an electrochemical cell. Rather than a battery, it’s the heart of a machine that could one day fuel a hydrogen-powered economy — if that economy ever arrives.

Startup Verdagy makes electrolyzers, devices that split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The US Department of Energy awarded the company a nearly $40 million grant this spring to help get the plant up and running as part of the Biden administration’s multi-billion-dollar effort to spur production and use of the climate-friendly fuel. Verdagy, which has raised $104 million in venture funding, will celebrate the plant’s opening Wednesday in a cavernous industrial building near San Jose.