Hoku Manufactures First Polysilicon at Idaho Plant

Submitted by orville on April 29, 2010
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Hoku Materials, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Hoku Corporation (NASDAQ: HOKU), established to manufacture and sell polysilicon for the solar market, today announced it had successfully produced polysilicon at its manufacturing facility in Pocatello, Idaho.

Hoku said it had produced the material after completing a comprehensive system commissioning protocol which culminated in deposition runs in a select number of its installed polysilicon reactors. The Company explained that the primary purpose of the testing was to confirm system integrity and validate operating procedures.

Hoku said it had operated the reactors continuously for approximately five days during the final phases of the commissioning procedure. During these live reactor runs, Hoku utilized trichlorosilane purchased from third-party suppliers. This is the same product that the Company plans to use during its initial commercial production runs this year.

"This is an historic day for Hoku," said Scott Paul, president and chief executive officer of Hoku Corporation. "We have completed the first step in our planned production ramp-up and successfully manufactured our first batches of polysilicon. Importantly, this challenging, month-long commissioning process also allowed us to flex our operations team, and validate our training, systems and procedures. I am extremely proud of our team's accomplishment."

About Hoku Corporation

Hoku Corporation (NASDAQ: HOKU) is a diversified clean energy technologies company with three business units: Hoku Materials, Hoku Solar and Hoku Fuel Cells. Hoku Materials plans to manufacture, market and sell polysilicon for the solar market from its plant currently under construction in Pocatello, Idaho. Hoku Solar markets and installs turnkey photovoltaic systems and related services in Hawaii. Hoku Fuel Cells has developed proprietary fuel cell membranes and membrane electrode assemblies for stationary and automotive proton exchange membrane fuel cells.

Source: Hoku Scientific