Projects

Sunshine Hydro is developing a portfolio of projects that will generate 24/7 Carbon-free Energy and Green Fuels.

Our project portfolio

Over the years, we have identified and assessed more than 70 project opportunities out of a pool of hundreds of prospective sites for a pumped hydro station. More recently, in tune with the price trends, our scope has widened to include projects with a different long duration energy storage, like a flow battery.

We are also developing stand-alone green fuel projects, that are relatively quick to commission and hence a faster response to the urgent need of decarbonising transport sector. We expect to merge these assets into a Superhybrid™ ecosystem in due course.

Social licence

We put a lot of care into the relationship with all community stakeholders and we actively seek ways to genuinely benefit local communities. Most importantly we listen to the locals.

Our aim is to have a significant positive impact on the natural environment and local community, including the First Nations people.

We are deeply committed to environmental protection and do not support unnecessarily damaging practices, even if they are legally permitted.

We are conscious, that any construction will impact the prevailing habitat, but so does climate change – our approach is to do our best to protect the biodiversity while decarbonising.

We are dedicated to carefully considering this complexity in our projects, and also expect that of the wind and solar farm developments from which we will source renewable energy.

First Nations engagement and participation

We believe that the social and economic opportunities that the clean energy revolution represents should be shared with First Nations peoples. To walk the talk, we have signed 20% of our flagship project through an option agreement with the First Nations Greentime Energy Group.

Our ambition is to follow the ten guiding principles which have been defined by the First Nations Clean Energy Network and set out in its 2022 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Best Practice Principles for Clean Energy Projects.

Engage respectfully
Prioritise clean, accessible and accurate information
Ensure cultural heritage is preserved and protected
Protect Country and environment
Be a good neighbour
Ensure economic benefits are shared
Provide social benefits for community
Embed land stewardship
Ensure cultural competency
Implement, monitor and report back

Djandori Gung-i Superhybrid™

Djandori Gung-i (“Spirit in the water”) is our most advanced pumped hydro project and we expect it to be commissioned in 2029. It’s in Miriam Vale Qld near Gladstone and its industrial load and transport infrastructure. It’s technically an excellent project with proximity to high voltage transmission lines and a desalination plant. The project is qualified for the Federal Government R&D program and passed external Red Flag assessment.

Key assets:

600 MW / 11 GWh (18 hours) pumped hydro station with 450 m head
300 MW hydrogen electrolysis

Key products:

300 MW of 24/7 CFE, Platinum standard (98%+ reliability)
220,000 tonnes green methanol p.a.

We have secured the land and formed a partnership with the First Nations people and the leading conservation group Burnett Mary Resource Group for protecting and enhancing the biodiversity values of the land. The project’s physical footprint will only occupy about 15% of the land.
We have signed an option agreement with First Nations Greentime Energy Group for 20% of the project and secured long-term interest for our First Nations partners.

Waikato Green Fuels

Sunshine Hydro is in the early stages of developing stand-alone green fuel production plants in partnership with a large forestry company in New Zealand Waikato region. This partner can provide the biomass and is a potential off-taker for green methanol.

The stage one of the project will generate 20,000 tonnes of green methanol and the stage two triples this production. There is also scope for expanding to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in the future.

Key products:

60,000 tonnes green methanol p.a.

Black Creek Green Fuels

Sunshine Hydro is developing this stand-alone green methanol production plant in partnership with the landowner in Dumaresq, NSW. The project will initially rely 100% on waste biomass as the feedstock, but may later form a part of the NSW Superhybrid™. We have in principle agreement to source sufficient biomass waste from the local area.

Key products:

20,000 tonnes green methanol p.a.
2,600 tonnes biochar p.a.

Northern NSW Superhybrid™

Sunshine Hydro’s NSW flagship project is in early stages of detailed planning. The land for the pumped hydro station is secured and the project is planned to integrate and expand the green methanol production of the Black Creek Green Fuels project, improving the methanol yield produced from the biomass by feeding in hydrogen.

Key assets:

240 MW / 4 GWh (18 hours) pumped hydro station with 450 m head
120 MW hydrogen electrolysis

Key products:

140 MW of 24/7 CFE, Platinum standard (98%+ reliability)
45,600 tonnes green methanol p.a.

CQU Mini Superhybrid™ & Green Fuels

Sunshine Hydro and Central Queensland University (CQU) have a Memorandum of Understanding to build a demonstration and research scale ‘mini’ Superhybrid™. The assets are to be located at the CQU – land owned by and adjacent to the Port of Gladstone, which provides exceptional transport connection for sourcing local biomass as well as for contracting the products.

Key assets:

3 MW (12 hours) flow battery
1.5 MW hydrogen electrolysis

Key products:

1.5 MW of 24/7 CFE, Platinum standard (98%+ reliability)
20,000 tonnes green methanol p.a.

As a part of the project, Sunshine Hydro will provide two PhD scholarships to graduate students to work with us in researching the techno-economic benefits of Superhybrid™. We expect this Superhybrid™ to be the first real asset optimised by AESOP, providing proof of concept while also contributing to brand awareness among the future experts of the industry.

Dahls Road Big Battery & Green Fuels

Dahls Road project is a fast tracked large-scale Superhybrid™ project that will use a flow battery as a long duration energy storage. It is located in Miriam Vale Qld near the Djandori Gung-i Superhybrid™ site and it includes electrolysers and green fuel production plant and infrastructure to support both projects. In addition to the project assets it has the potential to become a green industry hub centred around the project’s green energy products. We expect it to qualify for the Federal Government R&D program.

Key assets:

100 MW (10-12 hours) flow battery
50 MW hydrogen electrolysis
50 MW solar farm

Key products:

50 MW of 24/7 CFE, Platinum standard (98%+ reliability)
36,500 tonnes green methanol p.a.