Sunshine names Burton as chair, eyes public listing
Tue, 8th Sep 2026 (Today)
Sunshine has appointed Donovan Burton Director and Chair of the Board as the clean energy company moves towards public unlisted status.
At the same meeting, the board unanimously appointed Burton and accepted the retirement of Michael Myer as Director and Chair. The change marks a board renewal as Sunshine enters what it describes as a new growth phase.
Burton is Director of Informed.City and has more than 20 years' experience in climate risk, adaptation, resilience planning and climate-related financial assessment. His work spans hundreds of climate risk and adaptation projects, including work with New Zealand's banking sector on climate-related disclosure.
He has also trained and mentored central bank staff and financial policymakers across Asia Pacific. In addition, he has served as a technical expert on the UNFCCC UAE-Belém work programme and was invited by the IPCC to contribute to work on methodologies, metrics and indicators for assessing climate change impacts and adaptation.
Rick McElhinney, Chief Executive Officer of Sunshine, linked the appointment to the company's development pipeline and the scrutiny facing energy infrastructure developers.
"Donovan joins us at a point where the company is maturing," McElhinney said. "Our projects are moving from concept and modelling into structured development, and the questions our customers, investors and financiers ask are increasingly about risk, resilience and disclosure. Donovan has spent two decades working on exactly those questions at a governance level."
Sunshine is developing clean energy, storage and green fuels projects in several Australian states. It is advancing its South Australian green fuels project while continuing development of the Djandori Gung-i Superhybrid in the Central Queensland Renewable Energy Zone and the Dumaresq project in New South Wales.
Board change
McElhinney also paid tribute to Myer, who chaired the board as Sunshine expanded its project portfolio.
"Michael brought energy, confidence, commercial judgement and personal commitment to Sunshine during a formative period," McElhinney said. "He helped take the company from an ambitious technology and project developer into a business with a serious portfolio of clean energy, green fuels and long-duration storage opportunities. We will miss his contribution and thank him sincerely."
The leadership change follows the company's rebrand from Sunshine Hydro to Sunshine Energy as its overall business name. Under that structure, Sunshine Hydro covers hydro and long-duration energy storage work, while Sunshine Green Fuels focuses on green fuel production.
The reorganisation reflects a broader effort to separate the group's different lines of business as it develops a mix of generation, storage and fuel projects. Sunshine describes itself as a renewable energy technology platform and project developer with interests spanning hydro, long-duration energy storage and green fuels.
Its project model centres on what it calls a Superhybrid approach, combining wind, solar, sustainable biomass, long-duration energy storage, electrolysers and green fuel production. The company says these assets are co-ordinated through its AESOP software, short for Advanced Energy Storage Optimisation Program.
Resilience focus
Burton said the appointment reflects changing expectations around how energy infrastructure is assessed, particularly as investors and policymakers place greater emphasis on resilience and climate risk.
"The energy transition is a resilience project," Burton said. "It has to deliver reliable electricity, reliable fuel supply, durable regional economies and infrastructure that holds its value under stress, all while being low carbon. Sunshine is building assets designed to do that, and the discipline the company applies through AESOP and its unique skill sets is the kind of systems thinking the sector needs."
The appointment places a climate governance specialist at the head of a company seeking to move projects from early design into more structured development. It also signals the importance Sunshine is placing on climate disclosure, resilience planning and risk assessment as it develops assets across electricity, storage and green fuels.
Sunshine's portfolio includes the Djandori Gung-i project near Miriam Vale in Central Queensland and the Dumaresq project in New South Wales.