OTTAWA — Australian resources company Fortescue suspended plans for a green hydrogen plant in Prince George, B.C., last month, dealing a blow to Canada’s hydrogen hopes. It may be an omen of more trouble.

The Fortescue news: A lack of clean, affordable energy pushed the Coyote Hydrogen Project down Fortescue’s priority list into a neverland of plans it might never pursue, according to a letter sent to B.C.’s environmental regulator in late September. The Globe and Mail was first to report on the letter after the regulator posted it Wednesday.

Fortescue had planned to produce hydrogen for local use and ammonia (a hydrogen-dense molecule that’s easier to transport) to be exported to Japan, South Korea and the United States. It would have needed 1,000 megawatts of electricity, which the company evidently believes it can’t get. That would be almost all the 1,100-megawatt output of the controversial Site C dam.

Ticking clock: The federal government has already been worrying about missing chances to sell hydrogen to customers in Asia. According to a briefing note The Logic obtained through an access to information request, last April, Natural Resources Canada’s top official, Michael Vandergrift, was briefed that Japan would be taking international bids for 15-year supply contracts—with those bids due in July.

Vandergrift was going to meet Japan’s Ambassador Kanji Yamanouchi. The key message Vandergrift’s staff wanted him to convey was that Canada wants to supply Japan with ammonia but is struggling with how to get it to Pacific ports in quantity.

Also in the briefing note, South Korea is following Japan’s lead, planning to sign long-term ammonia contracts with international suppliers this fall.

Clean power is a natural-gas problem, too: The massive project Shell is leading to liquefy natural gas for export at Kitimat, B.C., is nearing completion of its first phase. But an equally massive expansion is on the bubble.

To address a lack of electricity, Shell said in 2023 that it would use natural gas to power the rest of a possible second-phase expansion at the LNG Canada facility. Another Natural Resources Canada briefing note, this one for a meeting of senior officials with Shell last January, showed that’s not settled. The trouble was that B.C. Premier David Eby’s determination that Phase 2 be all-electric would “exert considerable pressure on project competitiveness” and Shell would likely ask for subsidies and supply and price guarantees.

In January, the federal government expected a final investment decision by the middle of this year. As of a public update on Sept. 12, Shell and its partners were still mulling.

Big money: Fortescue’s Coyote project was estimated at $2 billion. LNG Canada is a joint venture of Shell, Petronas, PetroChina, Mitsubishi and Kogas, and a second phase would double the capacity of the $17-billion Phase 1 plant. As demand for green energy grows in Canada’s westernmost province, a lot is on the line.