Australia’s largest gas and oil company has withdrawn environmental applications it had submitted for the H2Tas green hydrogen and renewable ammonia production facility planned for Tasmania. The proposed facility was to support up to 1.7 GW of electrolyser capacity for green hydrogen and ammonia production.
Western Australia-headquartered Woodside has also ended its partnership with New Zealand government-owned utility Meridian Energy to deliver the 600 MW Southern Green Hydrogen project in New Zealand’s south.
Woodside confirmed the decisions in its Half Year Report, saying it has withdrawn federal environmental applications submitted for the H2Tas project and ceased discussions with Meridian on the Southern Green Hydrogen project.
The H2Tas project, being planned for Bell Bay Hydrogen Hub in Tasmania’s north, was to include 300 MW of electrolyser capacity capable of producing 107 tonnes of green hydrogen per day, with plans to export about 600 tonnes of the resulting ammonia.
Feasibility studies with Japanese companies Marubeni Corporation and IHI Corporation had indicated exporting ammonia to Japan from Bell Bay was technically and commercially viable, but Woodside has now shelved the project citing a lack of adequate renewable energy resources, and environmental and regulatory requirements that would necessitate substantial changes to the project’s scope and execution.
“In Woodside’s view, electrolysis-based hydrogen production in Tasmania is currently challenging, driven by the lack of availability of new renewable energy generation,” the company said in a statement, noting that it would “continue to assess the viability” of the project.
“If appropriate in the future, Woodside may propose to submit a new Notice of Intent for the revised H2Tas scope,” it said.
The Southern Green Hydrogen project has also been put on hold with Woodside announcing it has ceased discussions with Meridian regarding a potential collaboration on the project that was to produce 500,000 tonnes of green ammonia per year.
Woodside was named as a preferred partner to develop the project in 2022 but Meridian confirmed that partnership has now wrapped up.
“The economics of producing green hydrogen at scale in New Zealand have become more challenging and this is consistent with what we are seeing in other hydrogen projects overseas,” the company said.
“Markets have been slow to resolve the gap between the cost of producing green hydrogen and potential customers’ willingness to pay for it.”
Despite Woodside’s exit, Meridian Chief Executive Officer Neal Barclay believes the Southern Green Hydrogen is well placed to be a competitive opportunity when the time is 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,” he said. “We will review the opportunity to progress the project when the time is right.”
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