Hoku Scientific Inc.

From dKosopedia

Hoku Scientific Inc., is a Hawaii-based company that makes the membrane component for fuel cells that produce hydrogen as a source of energy.

According to the company website:

"Founded in 2001, Hoku Scientific develops and manufactures fuel cell membranes and membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) for stationary and automotive proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Hoku MEA™, incorporating non-fluorinated Hoku Membrane® is an enabling technology for PEM fuel cell OEMs that offers improved performance and durability at reduced costs compared to competing technologies."[1]

Fuel cells convert chemical energy in hydrogen and oxygen into electricity and heat without combustion and have a wide range of applications in the stationary and automotive markets. Fuel cells are fuel-efficient and, rely on a broader range of fuels and generate fewer harmful emissions than combustion engines and small scale back-up power generators. Fuel cells can produce more power than conventional batteries of equivalent volume and weight, generally have a longer shelf life and can be disposed with less harm to the environment.

According to a Honolulu Star-Bulletin article dated October 20, 2005,

"...the company has disclosed just two customers: Nissan and the U.S. Navy, with which Hoku is under a $2.1 million contract to help design a prototype fuel-cell power generator. If Hoku and its partner on the project, IdaTech LLC, succeed, then Hoku stands to secure Navy contracts worth an additional $2.5 million. So far, Hoku has not recognized any revenue from the Navy contracts, but expects to do so during the next 15 months." [2]

In August 2005, Hoku became the first Hawaii company to go public in six years when it debuted on the Nasdaq market. [3]

On October 17, 2005, Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann along with Hoku's chairman, Dustin Shindo, and Hoku officers officially opened Hoku Scientific's two-story facility in the Kapolei Business Park in West Oahu. The Kapolei facility will enable Hoku to produce the membrane electrode assembly. [4]

In August 2006, Kapolei-based Hoku Scientific Inc. announced it will base its new solar-energy business in Idaho. One of the new businesses, Hoku Solar, plans to manufacture photovoltaic modules, the basic element of a photovoltaic system, which converts sunlight into electricity. The company's other new business, Hoku Materials, plans to manufacture polysilicon, one of the key materials used in the production of photovoltaic, or solar, modules. The production of polysilicon is an energy-intensive process, and Idaho has very competitively priced electricity, Hoku said. The plan calls for Hoku Solar to begin making photovoltaic modules in the second half of 2007, with initial manufacturing capacity of 30 megawatts per year. Hoku Materials is expected to begin production of polysilicon in the second half of 2008, initially producing up to 1,500 metric tons of polysilicon per year, the company said. Hoku's remaining business — Hoku Fuel Cells — will remain in Kapolei. [5]

On January 19, 2007, in a Honolulu Star-Bulletin article, Dave Segal reported:

Hoku's $370 million contract to supply the polysilicon for solar panels to Osaka, Japan-based Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. gives Hoku its largest customer as well as financing needed to start building its new solar-cell and polysilicon plant planned in Pocatello, Idaho. [6]