AD: How does Hemlock think the U.S. should respond to China’s efforts to dominate the market for both polysilicon and semiconductors? Beebe: Policy actions such as the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) and the Solar Energy Manufacturing for America Act signal that the U.S. government is ready to incentivize robus...Continue Reading

In 1961, President Kennedy proclaimed that the United States should “commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” Thus began the space race that has over the years spawned numerous innovative companies an...Continue Reading

The state of recycling in Minnesota, with low economic return and high volume, has many looking for solutions beyond wishful thinking as landfills reach capacity and oil companies churn out more virgin plastics. Wishcycling, according to Christine McCarthy, Lake County’s environmental services director, comes from the best of intentions when someon...Continue Reading

A low vacancy rate and soaring demand. It’s all led to a booming industrial market in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Avison Young recently released its second quarter industrial market report for the Twin Cities area. In little surprise, the report was filled with good news for the region and this sector. Clic...Continue Reading

The St. Louis County Board gave unanimous support to invest $1.75 million in Broadband Infrastructure Grants. The grants will be distributed to qualifying communities to assist with constructing broadband infrastructure in unserved or underserved areas. This latest investment is in addition to $250,000 authorized last month to assist communities wit...Continue Reading

Mille Lacs Energy Cooperative (MLEC) has announced that MLEC Fiber Internet will become available for more customers in 2022. High-speed internet – or the lack thereof –  is an issue in many areas of rural Minnesota. MLEC has provided advanced technology, like electricity back in the 1930s, to areas in Aitkin...Continue Reading

Between April 1 and June 30, 2021, the Northland Foundation awarded 46 grants totaling $571,635 to benefit the people and communities within its service area. These numbers do not include 13 already announced Maada’ookiing grants awarded to Indigenous individuals through the foundation’s newest initiative. The grants were awarded April through Jun...Continue Reading

St. Paul, Minn., August 12, 2021 – Twin Metals Minnesota today announced it will build on its commitment to advancing the nation’s most sustainable and technologically advanced underground mining project by investing in the electrification of its mining and support vehicle fleets. Implementing battery electric vehicle technology is the latest effor...Continue Reading

Twin Metals Minnesota said that it plans to rely almost exclusively on electric vehicles for its proposed underground copper-nickel mine near Ely. Using electric mining and support vehicles instead of diesel vehicles will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the mine by 65 percent and will reduce ventilation and heating needs underground, Chie...Continue Reading

In the past decade, Amazon said it has invested more than $3 billion in Minnesota and employs 6,500 in full- and part-time jobs. The internet giant's physical footprint has grown tremendously since it opened its massive fulfillment center in Shakopee five years ago. It now has three fulfillment and sortation centers...Continue Reading

JLL Capital Markets has arranged a $157.3 million joint venture equity partnership for the development of three high-quality bulk distribution and life sciences projects totaling 1.55 million square feet in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. JLL represented the developer, Oppidan, a national property development firm headquartered in Minneapolis, to arrange th...Continue Reading

Minnesota’s Angel Tax Credit program has been very popular with investors and entrepreneurs since it launched in 2010. Early in this year’s legislative session, backers of the program put out the call to renew the program citing its importance to the state’s startup ecosystem and the Minnesota economy as ...Continue Reading

The new owner of Coal Creek Station intends to reduce carbon dioxide emissions at the power station, pending final approval from regulators. Great River Energy, East Central Energy’s wholesale power provider, held a system-wide vote on July 30 regarding its sale of Coal Creek Station. The membership voted to approve th...Continue Reading

Demographic data impacts corporate site location trends, and a region’s population growth plays an important role in deciding where companies may choose to retain or locate new jobs and capital investment.  Demography is the study of the structure of the population in terms of size, characteristics such as age distributio...Continue Reading

WADENA, Minn. — Standing in Wadena’s historic downtown on Wednesday, July 28, Mayor George Deiss began pointing this way and that, listing off the developments that took place over the last year. His audience was Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, his executive assistant Jamie Ebert and a local reporter. Simon’...Continue Reading

The United States will need one billion square feet of industrial space over the next five years to keep up with e-commerce demand — one billion! Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, much attention has been paid to the future of office, but the industrial market is experiencing a similar tectonic shift. Prio...Continue Reading

Click here to view Coborn's growth over 100 years through pictures from the St. Cloud Times. Continue Reading

The challenges facing rural America are well-known and exhaustively documented. Chronically shrinking populations beget shrinking tax bases and shriveling public services. Town squares board up. Hospitals close. The most promising youth light out for elsewhere, just as lack of reliable internet now helps to quash most any notion of winnin...Continue Reading

This is not your father’s veggie burger — if he was ever near one. Today’s meat-alternative burgers and other foods are based on plant- or cell-based alternative proteins, and the global market for such products is exploding. According to analysis from Meticulous Research released in March, the alternative proteins marke...Continue Reading

Mateo Jaramillo, Form CEO and co-founder, said he doesn't consider the company's technology to be long-duration storage, instead preferring the term "multi-day storage." The capacity of the Form battery to dispatch energy for 100 hours, he said, "puts it in a different category" than the broad definition of long-duration storage...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, July 26, 2021 – USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Justin Maxson announced that the department is accepting applications for loan guarantees and grants for renewable energy systems; and to make energy efficiency improvements, conduct energy audits and provide development assistance. Funds are being made available under the Rura...Continue Reading

Pat Campanaro, a business advisor with the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) working through the Cook County Grand Marais EDA and the Northland SBDC, has been named by her peers as the Minnesota network’s 2020 State Star. Campanaro was nominated by the EDA leadership team and chosen in a statewide vot...Continue Reading

Project expected to create and retain 525 jobs  ST. PAUL – The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) announced today that it has awarded a $2,000,000 grant to an infrastructure project in Faribault.  During the second quarter of the year, DEED awarded this one grant through the Greater Minnesota Busines...Continue Reading