Langage Power Station marks British Science Week with pupils

Local pupils from primary schools in Plymouth given chance to design the pylons of the future as part of British Science Week.

Pylons are a vital part of our nation’s infrastructure, helping to get electricity from our power stations, solar panels and wind turbines to our homes and businesses. For some they are a thing of beauty whereas others view them as blighting our landscape.

Now, almost 100 pupils from primary schools in Plymouth will be challenged to design what these pylons could look like in the future as part of a series of events being run by Centrica to mark British Science Week (11th – 20th March 2016).

Malborough Primary School, Holy Cross Catholic Primary School and Oakwood Primary School will all host visits from the team at Centrica’s Langage Power Station to learn first-hand about science technology and engineering jobs.

As part of the visits, groups of year five and six pupils will be challenged to design and build, using K’NEX, the electricity pylons of the future to supply a fictional new town near to Plymouth. The exercise was designed to get them thinking about the planning and engineering that is involved in these types of projects.

The engineering solutions they come up with will need to be well designed and thought-out to make sure they could carry the weight of the high voltage electricity cables and be strong enough to survive windy conditions.

Richard Tyreman, Generation Manager at Centrica’s Langage Energy Centre, said: “The event is a fantastic opportunity for the students to get a feeling of what being an engineer is all about, while also learning about how power stations like Langage help to keep the region’s lights on.

“We’ve hosted similar events in previous years, which led to lots of creative and practical ideas being built. I’m excited to see what this year’s group will come up with.

“I first became interested in science when I was at school and now I get to run one of the UK’s newest power stations. Hopefully events like this will encourage the next generation to become interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects, and who knows maybe one day they’ll be doing what I’m doing.”