• Plans to build a green hydrogen facility in Southland have been shelved.
• The proposal started making headlines in 2021 when Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter looked set to close, and it [ https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/490469/southland-s-just-transition-gets-funding-boost received government backing].
• Meridian Energy says the economics have become more challenging to produce green hydrogen at scale in New Zealand.
• Chief executive Neal Barclay says they believe that Southern Green Hydrogen is well placed to be a competitive opportunity when the time is right.

Meridian Energy has paused plans to build one of the world's largest-scale green hydrogen facilities in Southland, but is not ruling out the project in the future.

The Southern Green Hydrogen project has been in the works for years.

In its annual results released on Wednesday, Meridian chief executive Neal Barclay said the economics of producing green hydrogen at scale had become more challenging.

"Markets have been slow to resolve the gap between the cost of producing green hydrogen and potential customers' willingness to pay for it."

Australian resource firm Woodside Energy was named as a preferred partner to develop the project in 2022, but that partnership has now wrapped up, he said.

He was not ruling out progressing the project when the time was right.

"We will continue to actively monitor our target markets as we believe Southern Green Hydrogen remains well placed to be a competitive green hydrogen opportunity, compared to other projects and jurisdictions," Barclay said.