Except that it is not driven by normal decision making processes. It is driven by politicians..
Oh, no doubt about it - if it were subject to normal "market-driven" or "engineering-driven" demands (such as paying close attention to projected return on investment, competing with other investment alternatives to weed out the 'clunkers', etc.) it may never have gotten past the "laugh test".
However in a perverse inversion of reality (of the sort that we are seeing nearly every day), such an "investment" may make economic sense as a preemptive/defensive move, to keep Soviet-inspired, heavy-handed government central planners at bay so that the utility can continue to run the rest of their business in a more straightforward way without as much other government interference as they might expect to see coming down the road (they won't be able to avoid all of it, but maybe this trivial $150 million feint may serve as a useful diversion and distraction, a figurative green-tech smokescreen while they run off in a different direction).
In that way of thinking, it is little different than accomodating the usual sort of extortion and bribes and payoffs that are necessary when dealing with any kind of government entity, union, or other organized criminal enterprise.