Frank M Jossi

Journalist. Content Strategist. Business Writer.

St. Paul, Minn.

St. Paul-based Frank Jossi writes about renewable energy and energy policy, development, politics and the arts. I am a journalist, editor, educator and writer of articles, case studies, white papers, reports and other materials. In a pinch, I take photographs. My career includes teaching twice abroad on Fulbright scholarships and receiving a Humphrey Fellowship from the University of Minnesota. For more information see https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankjossi/

Frank M Jossi

Journalist. Content Strategist. Business Writer.

St. Paul, Minn.

Featured
Utilities say CapX2020 transmission project prompting wind energy growth
Finished in late September after more than a decade of planning and construction, the 800-mile-long CapX2020 transmission project has prompted more than 3,600 megawatts of clean energy project proposals, according to Xcel Energy. While not all the proposals are likely to be approved by regulators, the flood of applications represents the tangible impact of CapX2020 in moving electrons from windier parts of the Midwest to dense population centers to the east.
Midwest Energy News
Featured
Utility responds to commercial green power demand in Minnesota
A Minnesota electric cooperative is among the latest utilities to offer a commercial green tariff program in response to growing demand from business customers. Great River Energy created its program after a request by a member utility that is also now its first customer. Starting next month, the Dakota Electric Association will offset all of the electricity use at its exurban Minneapolis headquarters with wind energy credits purchased through the Wellspring for Business program.
Midwest Energy News
Featured
Sustainable: MinnPACE helps finance efficiency projects
Even after more than two decades in operation, the Greenway Office Building in Minneapolis remains a stellar example of sustainability. From geothermal heating and cooling to native gardens on the rooftop and a rainwater-retention system, the Greenway combines many innovative energy-efficiency elements.Two years ago, however, the building needed to replace its aging solar arrays.
Finance & Commerce
Featured
Building Blocks: TRIA Orthopedic Center
Property description: Drivers on I-94 in Woodbury will find TRIA’s new location in the mixed-used development CityPlace hard to ignore. The striking circular, three-story atrium lobby offers a lighting scheme visible to freeway drivers that changes hues to highlight the company’s blue logo or the colors of local professional sports teams.
Finance & Commerce
Featured
Plant closures could be turning point for Minnesota biomass industry
Minnesota utility regulators are studying a proposal by Xcel Energy to close two biomass plants that could mark a turning point for the industry here, particularly as prices for renewable energy drop. which has approval by the state legislature and the communities affected — would close Benson Power, which burns turkey waste and wood, as well as a biomass plant in northern Minnesota owned by the Laurentian Energy Authority (LEA).
Midwest Energy News
Featured
‘Landmark’ decision casts youth as official intervenors in pipeline case
In what is regarded as an unusual step, a group of 13 young people have joined together to become court sanctioned intervenors as they fight a proposed Enbridge Energy pipeline through northern Minnesota. Intervenors are sanctioned by the state Public Utilities Commission to represent parties in contested cases.
Midwest Energy News
Featured
Investment in solar grows dramatically in Minnesota schools
The largest solar project ever built to serve a Minnesota school district began producing energy last week. The Farmington public school district’s 3.1 megawatt (MW) project places photovoltaic panels on the rooftops of several buildings. The first project to go live is the 715 kilowatt, 2,200 panel installation on the roof of Dodge Middle School, with more buildings to follow.
Midwest Energy News
Featured
Minnesota housing development to include community energy storage
A new housing development in suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul will use grid-interactive electric thermal water heaters to enable the Midwest’s first community energy storage project. Country Joe Homes’ Legacy 2 development in Lakeville is building 79 homes over the next two years. Each home will have 80-gallon water heaters manufactured by Steffes Corp.
Midwest Energy News
Youth activists score big climate victory in small Minnesota town
Last month 11-year-old Olya Wright and a handful of students convinced the Grand Marais city council to adopt a “climate inheritance resolution” that could lead to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the tiny North Shore hamlet. Wright is a member of Nordic Nature Group, a youth environmental group in Grand Marais, a city of slightly more than 1,300 residents that hugs the shoreline of Lake Superior north of Duluth.
Midwest Energy News
Minnesota cities learn from buying community solar together
The nation’s first ever attempt to have municipal governments collectively buy power from community solar gardens was a modest success, according to a new report. While municipalities in other parts of the country have come together to buy rooftop solar, none had ever tried it to capture cost savings in the nascent community solar marketplace, said Trevor Drake, project manager at the Great Plains Institute.
Midwest Energy News
In Minnesota, utilities and regulators plan for the grid of the future
Minnesota regulators recently heard proposals from Xcel Energy to introduce a sophisticated new electric grid software platform and to build an energy storage system instead of a substation. The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) certified the need for the $27 million software platform while requesting more information on the storage project to determine whether it would be a good deal for ratepayers.
Midwest Energy News
Major changes coming to a Minnesota renewable energy fund
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton last week approved a jobs and energy bill that will make major changes to a renewable energy fund that was created in 1994. The bill will allow the Xcel Energy-managed Renewable Development Fund to be used to help towns dealing with closure of biomass plants, as well as end the Made In Minnesota solar manufacturing program, which received $15 million in annual funding.
Midwest Energy News
Minnesota community solar projects aimed at low-income subscribers
A Minneapolis community solar garden developer has begun building five projects aimed at reducing electricity costs for low-income consumers. Cooperative Energy Futures (CEF) is building community solar gardens that will collectively generate a total of 5.6 megawatts of electricity, including one atop a Catholic church in suburban Minneapolis.
Midwest Energy News
Minnesota district to get Midwest’s first electric school bus this fall
The first electric school bus in the Midwest will begin transporting students in a suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul school district this fall. Unveiled last week, the 72-passenger bus represents a collaborative effort by the wholesale electric service provider Great River Energy, the electric cooperative Dakota Electric Association and Schmitty & Sons Bus Co.
Midwest Energy News
Building Blocks: 333 on the Park
Property description: More than 400 people showed up for the March grand opening of 333 on the Park, the newest housing addition to St. Paul’s historic and hip Lowertown neighborhood. The clothing manufacturer Gordon & Ferguson built the structure, later know as Sibley Square, in 1913. Large mural photographs decorating the walls of every floor depict work spaces of Gordon & Ferguson, include a striking shot of workers toiling among animal rugs.
Finance & Commerce
Sustainable: Energy partnership targets public housing
Owned by the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, the Glendale Townhomes in Prospect Park have not had many updates to improve their energy efficiency since they were constructed in 1952. Later this year a pilot project will begin with an energy audit of one of the complex’s eight-unit townhouse buildings.
Finance & Commerce

About

Frank M Jossi

reporting

editing

interviewing

case study and white paper writing

public speaking. panel moderating

Here’s a summary of what I do:
Articles, profiles, stories for the media, in-house publications and web sites
Content for social media — Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin
Case Studies, including design and search engine optimization
White papers, including design and SEO
Speeches
Marketing materials — brochures, web sites, themes
Media planning
Coverage areas: Health care information technology, general information technology, law, politics.

My background includes reporting, editing, teaching and program managing an international press institute. As a volunteer I work for environmental organizations and serve on a neighborhood council.