Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune In: Electricity highways

20 minutes

Find Out: What is transmission?

20 minutes

Take Action: Design a transmission route

10 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions and success criteria

Students will:

understand how electricity is transmitted from power plants into our communities, homes and workplaces
investigate appropriate places for transmission lines
learn about the roles and technologies involved

Students can:

describe how electricity is delivered to communities using infrastructure
plan for transmission line locations based on a variety of ethical and environmental considerations and technologies available and explain some of the job roles involved

Tune In: Electricity highways

Step 1

Students are going to undertake a drawing activity to express their ideas about how they use electricity. Ensure students have access to blank paper or their workbooks and read out the following questions:

What comes to mind when you think of renewable energy, and how do you use the electricity it provides?

Give students a couple of minutes to draw some simple diagrams in response to this question. They can use arrows/lines to show connections.

Invite students to turn their books around to face the class and show their drawings. Move about and pick out some common themes you see represented in the images. What themes around renewable energy are emerging?

If any students have drawn transmission or distribution lines, point these out to the class and prompt these students to explain why they included images such as these. They’re a very good way to illustrate the connections!

Step 2

Expand on this activity by asking students:

“Have you ever seen a wind farm? A solar farm? A coal-fired power plant? If you haven’t, why do you think that is the case? If you have, where were they?”

Help students understand the idea that electricity is rarely generated in large quantities in urban areas or areas close to large populations of people. They require large amounts of space and infrastructure that would be difficult to construct in densely populated areas and would impact the communities around them.

Step 3

Close out this activity by challenging students:

“So, how do we actually obtain generated electricity to use it?”

Considering how renewable energy is not only generated but is also transported to us, ask students to modify their drawings using transmission lines to show flow and connections. Suggest they also consider services like power substations, transmission towers, and transmission lines in more remote locations, as well as distribution lines in their local neighbourhoods.

Explain to students that no matter how electricity is generated, it has to reach us somehow. All of the different types of energy we use are often generated in remote areas away from cities. They use a series of transmission and distribution lines and systems to actually get to where we can use them. These lines are incredibly important and ensure our power is reliable and consistent.

Find Out: What is transmission?

Step 1

Show students the slide on the attached Visual Explainer, which shows the process of electricity generation and distribution.

Transmission is the act of moving energy from one spot to another. Electricity needs to move from a power plant to our home.

Bring 8 students up to the front and have them each read out one of these steps of energy transmission below, pointing to parts of the diagram as you go.

Suggestion: Students could pass a piece of paper with the steps to each in turn to further illustrate the process.

Steps of energy transmission from power plant to home

Generation: Electricity is produced at power plants using fossil fuels like coal and natural gas or renewable energy sources like wind, solar, or hydropower.
Step-Up Transformer: Voltage is increased for efficient long-distance travel.
Transmission Lines: High-voltage lines carry electricity across vast distances to neighbourhood transformers or substations.
Substation or Neighbourhood Transformer: Voltage is reduced to a safe level for local distribution.
Distribution Lines: Electricity travels through lower-voltage lines to neighbourhoods.
Step-Down Transformer: Further lowers voltage for household use.
Service Drop: Connects distribution line to homes. These are either overhead or underground.
Home Wiring: Electricity enters homes through a meter and is distributed to power appliances and devices.

Note: Transmission lines can be built underground. This is often done in urban areas to reduce visual impact and protect the lines from weather-related damage. Underground transmission lines are much more expensive to install and maintain than overhead lines, despite the improved aesthetics. Underground transmission lines also carry less power because when lines are hot, the heat is not easily released through the ground. When lines are hotter, they carry less current, limiting the capacity of underground cables. They can also be challenging to repair if faults occur, requiring careful consideration of installation locations and methods. Most disruptions to our power supply occur on the distribution network rather than the transmission network, further making underground lines less needed or desirable.

Step 2

Next, have students watch the following videos:

Powerlink's Queensland transmission network - Powerlink Queensland (https://youtu.be/qUYIPHPoa2s?si=FTLH5b7R6qimGERk) [Duration: 1.48]

Major Projects at Powerlink - Powerlink Queensland (https://youtu.be/HydtbX7CroI?si=T-VV2T6nLVJSsiXr) [Duration: 1.55]

Ask students to pair up for a couple of minutes and discuss what they think are the challenges in creating new transmission lines.

Prompt students on environmental and logistical challenges like land use, wildlife disruption, and safety. Provide examples of scenarios such as: How do we get the towers or the cables up there? What new technologies are there that can do this?

Step 3

One solution to some of these issues is called ‘drone stringing’. Watch the following video and describe the process to your students using the steps below.

Kaban drone stringing - Powerlink Queensland - (https://youtu.be/xXAmKdFDdOk?si=9ffjPvsPg76ckpKu) [Duration: 2.03]

1. The drone is equipped with a spool of lightweight, high-strength pilot wire.

2. The drone flies along the planned route for the new transmission line, releasing the pilot wire as it goes.

3. Stringing: The pilot wire is attached to the transmission towers, serving as a guide for pulling heavier conductor wires into place.

4. Once the pilot wire is in place, traditional stringing equipment uses it to pull the main conductor wires, completing the transmission line setup.

This method is efficient, minimises environmental impact, and enhances safety by reducing the need for ground-based equipment and personnel. Using the Visual Explainer highlight the diverse roles required for this type of work.

Step 4

To close out this Find Out phase, display images from the attached Visual Explainer of sub-stations, power lines, and distribution lines. Encourage students to think about these using some of the following questions.

What do you notice about them?
Where are they located?
How do they look?
Why are they so high off the ground?
What does the landscape look like around them?
What do we need to think about when transmitting electricity?
What people, places and things are involved in any stage of the process?

Take Action: Design a transmission route

Step 1

Divide students into small groups. Explain that they will be designing a transmission route that connects to the transmission network.

Students will work together on 2 key steps.

First, they will plan out a network based on their research of an area, and
Second, consider stakeholder viewpoints.

Each group has a set amount of time (e.g. 10 minutes) to plan a transmission route that connects to power plants and can deliver consistent power.

Give students the link to the Electricity Generation Map or hand out a printout of a map of your area. Refer to the Teacher Content Information for instructions on how to print out a map.
Each group is a team of Land Surveyors, who work for Powerlink, in charge of designing a transmission route across their area. Each group needs to consider factors such as:

residential areas
green spaces
places where people gather
native flora and fauna
Indigenous sacred sites
historic sites of significance
waterways
schools and businesses
proximity to other fuel types, such as wind, solar, or hydro
options to go underground in some areas.

Extension opportunity: Early finishers or students requiring extension could come up with multiple potential transmission routes, and could describe the pros and cons of each route.

Students should draw the transmission network on their map using a single solid line. If their network is underground, have them indicate this with a dotted line.

Step 2

This final task is called ‘Circle of Viewpoints’. Give students a set amount of time (e.g. 10 minutes) to construct a viewpoint and consider the factors they would be affected by when it comes to electricity and the way the group designed the transmission lines as Land Surveyors,

Firstly, consider the stakeholders in transmitting electricity with your class:

People using it
People building it
People living near it
People living far away from it
Nearby flora and fauna
First Nations’ sites

Extension opportunity: If time permits students could conduct research into some case studies/examples that relate to the viewpoint they are looking at, and could bring these examples to their groups.

Then, within each group, each student should choose a different perspective to explore, using these 3 sentence-starters:

I am thinking of... [these transmission lines in this area] from the viewpoint of ... (the stakeholder chosen)
I think... (describe how the transmission lines impact you from your viewpoint)
A big question I have from this viewpoint is... (ask a question from this viewpoint)

To help with these phrases, students should consider issues of safety, the environment, and access, as well as people working on the lines. For example, environments that the transmission lines go through: such as places where people gather, First Nations sacred sites, historic sites of significance, residential areas, schools and businesses or habitats that transmission lines pass through, including green spaces, native flora and fauna, waterways, and proximity to other fuel types such as wind, solar, or hydro.

Move about while students share these ‘Circle of Viewpoints’, encouraging respectful communication. Briefly note some of the issues and key questions you pick up on the board.

Reflection

Highlight some of the issues and questions you’ve noted.

Ask students to share and reflect:

What were you thinking about when planning transmission lines as Land Surveyors?
What did it feel like to then use a circle of viewpoints to explore the impact from other perspectives?

Designing Sustainable Energy Transmission

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Summary

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