Meridian Energy has exited the Hunter Downs Irrigation Scheme.
The scheme was a community irrigation proposal developed by Hunter Downs Irrigation Scheme Trust and Meridian over 10 years ago, and was designed to irrigate up to 40,000ha of land from the Waitaki River to Timaru.
The announcement was made yesterday by Hunter Downs Irrigation Limited (HDIL) director Stacey Scott.
Mrs Scott said Meridian and the Hunter Downs Development Company worked through what the change would mean over the last two months as Meridian held 50% of the company's shares.
Those shares had now been transferred to farmer-led HDIL, the foundation company of the scheme. Meridian would stop being a financial contributor to the scheme on June 30, Mrs Scott said.
No jobs would be affected by the announcement and the company would explore funding options in the future.
Meridian spokeswoman Claire Shaw said it was now time to transfer Meridian's interests to farmers so they could advance the project when the time was right.
