With Gladstone becoming the centre of gas and emerging renewable energy projects, local students will be all over how they fit in the energy mix after a workshop today.

About 50 Year 9 students will take part in the event organised by the Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy (QMEA), which will involve designing and building an energy production unit.

Students must stay within a given budget and timeline and use data analysis to ensure energy production is sufficient for its end use.

The event is supported by ConocoPhillips Australia, the downstream operator of Australia Pacific LNG, and representatives will be on hand to mentor students through the project.

“Gladstone students are surrounded by an array of existing and emerging energy sources, so understanding how they interact to produce the energy that our homes, businesses and industry needs is really important,” said Rob Gibb, Manager Communities and Sustainable Development for ConocoPhillips Australia.

“Each year, participating students continue to create and innovate as they discover how different energy sources combine to feed into the electricity grid,” he said.

“These events present a valuable opportunity for our staff to engage with the students, helping them to understand the range of educational pathways available for exciting careers in the energy sector.”

Toolooa State High School Principal Justin Harrison said new energy projects coming online in Gladstone – such as the renewable hydrogen plant and the biosolids to crude oil project – would create more competition for skilled employees so it was important to encourage students to consider career paths that could lead to employment in the energy sector in their home city.

“It’s also an opportunity for students to have a better understanding of how their classroom lessons apply to the world of work,” he said.

The students will also discover chemical processing and robotics and programming through a series of hands-on activities.

The event will be held at Toolooa SHS with students from Chanel College and Gladstone State High School also attending.

The QMEA engages with 80 schools throughout Queensland and is a partnership between the QRC and the State Government under its Gateway to Industry Schools program.

The QRC is Queensland’s peak representative body for coal, metal and gas explorers, producers and suppliers across the resources sector. It contributes one in every five dollars to the Queensland economy, sustains one in six Queensland jobs and supports more than 15,000 businesses and more than 1200 community organisations across the state – all from 0.1 percent of Queensland’s land mass.