New SOPBS series premieres Oct. 17

By Jim Flint for Ashland.news

Oregon’s energy landscape is charging into the future, and Southern Oregon PBS is capturing every watt of it with “Energy Horizons,” a new six-part documentary series premiering this fall.

Directed by Keegan Van Hook (“Us As We Are”) and filmed by longtime collaborator Tripp White, the series takes viewers on a powerful journey across the state, spotlighting Oregon’s renewable energy breakthroughs, cutting-edge technologies, and the challenges of storage and transmission.

From wind farms to solar innovations, Van Hook unplugs the complexities of energy and climate change, revealing real solutions in action.

The series premieres at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, with each episode repeating with three additional viewings at different hours the same weeks.

Van Hook and White, both residents of Ashland, interviewed more than 40 people for the series.

Not always in agreement

“Not all of them see things the same way,” Van Hook said. “It’s been challenging at times to determine what the best balance is for presenting situations where a lot of our interviewees disagree.”

It’s not a matter of right or wrong, he said. It’s just a matter of their having adopted different viewpoints. Take the idea of how to capture the energy of coastal winds, for example.

“There is disagreement over whether to put turbines off the coast,” he said. “I felt that both supporters and those opposed had really solid arguments backing their stances. My goal was to present their best points of view in ways that help viewers make up their own minds about the issue without vilifying anyone.”

Videographer White was amazed at the size of onshore wind turbines.

“They’re massive,” he said. “Numbers and metrics are great for detailing the scale, but seeing them in person is pretty breathtaking. Imagining them even larger for off-shore deployment is incredible.”

Some aspects were difficult or impossible to capture on camera.

“The technology for floating off-shore wind farms doesn’t exist yet,” White said, “so there is nothing to shoot. That makes it challenging in the edit bay.”

Face-to-face

Van Hook and White secured in-person interviews with everyone featured in the series. In post-COVID times, most people are comfortable with Zoom and remote meetings. “Too comfortable,” in Van Hook’s words.

“I’m proud we overcame that,” he said. “Zoom is a fantastic tool, but I feel that something deeper can be lost if the conversation is done remotely. A sense of separation can prevent the conversation from going as deep as it might in person.”

Van Hook and White have been shooting together for several years. They weren’t sure what the narrative for the series was going to be until they began accumulating interview footage. They were more certain early on about the visuals.

“We knew that we wanted to keep the graphic elements simple and sleek, much like wind turbines,” White said.

In television and film production, “B-roll” refers to supplemental footage that is intercut with the main, or A-roll, footage. It typically includes visuals that are not part of the primary storyline. White and Van Hook drew on previously filmed segments to help tell the story.

“Keegan has been diligent in archiving the raw footage from previous shoots,” White said. “When a subject brings up symptoms of climate change, for instance, we have a backlog of footage from the Almeda Fire and the weeks and months following. Even the post-fire rebuilding efforts relate to energy consumption, fossil fuel use, and transmission systems.”

On the cutting edge

The series highlights the state’s unique position in the renewable energy landscape.

“Oregon has a strong history of being on the cutting edge of environmental consciousness and new energy trends,” Van Hook said.

“Our series uses this as a framework from the start, exploring how hydroelectric dams were built in the 1930s, transforming the state from a pioneer frontier into a manufacturing powerhouse with carbon-neutral generation.”

Van Hook believes Oregon’s strong environmental policies have helped it stay ahead of the curve regarding renewable energy infrastructure.

“There are tons of ongoing construction of new energy facilities, lots of research and development at the state’s universities, and a swell of local manufacturing innovation,” he said. “That’s why we structured our series to use Oregon as a microcosm of the state of new energy transmission everywhere.”

In their travels for the series, one promising frontier technology in energy development stood out.

“Solar energy appears to be on a phenomenal trajectory right now,” Van Hook said. “Solar is beyond promising. It is delivering. It is now the cheapest form of generation a utility can build.”

Because of state and federal support, Van Hook believes the economics of home solar systems are too good for people to ignore anymore.

“Even climate skeptics I talked to have added solar to their own homes and businesses,” he said.

“While filming the series, I flew my drone over neighborhoods in many parts of Oregon, and in some places close to half the houses had solar panels on their roofs.”

Not just politics

Van Hook hopes viewers will come away from the series understanding that renewable energy isn’t just a “climate change” issue.

“It’s important for multiple reasons,” he said. “Rather than about left versus right political agendas, it is something that any pragmatic person should pay attention to.”

He points to examples of the many benefits of an advanced energy infrastructure, such as improved medical care for chronic disease, “and the invention of everything we consider good about our advanced civilization.”

“Without energy, we’re not going anywhere,” Van Hook said.

White said the new series involved the input of about everybody at the station, as opposed to previous smaller projects with smaller crews.

“I’m proud of how well the lighting and audio turned out,” he said. “Keegan’s job is primarily in the interviewer seat, while mine was to make sure we did a good job capturing those interviews. With three to four cameras and two audio sources, I’d say they came out pretty well.”

White has been with Southern Oregon PBS for about three years, beginning as a media asset coordinator. Due to retirements, he was promoted to station editor.

Van Hook has been with the station for about five years. Before joining SOPBS, he studied communications and television production at the Northwest Film Center at Portland Art Museum (now known as PAM CUT) and at SOU, working at Rogue Valley Community Television as a student.

The new series is produced by Jeff LeBeau, with executive producers Brad Fay and Phil Meyer, and associate producer Robert Mead.

For more information about the series and a schedule of the episodes, go to sopbs.org, scroll down, and click on the Energy Horizons logo.

Freelance writer Jim Flint is a retired newspaper publisher and editor. Email him at jimflint.ashland@yahoo.com.