Science & Technology
Science and Technology
Science and Technology
Thu, April 2, 2009
Hoku Scientific, Inc.: Hoku and JH Kelly Confirm Schedule for Polysilicon Plant Construction and Start-Up
POCATELLO, ID--(Marketwire - April 2, 2009) - Hoku Materials, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Hoku Scientific, Inc. (
Under the original contract, as previously amended by earlier change orders in 2008, JH Kelly had the potential to earn up to $5 million in bonus payments upon the achievement of specified schedule, budget, and safety goals. Under the change order, JH Kelly still has the potential to earn up to $5 million in bonus payments, but the weight of the bonus payments has shifted towards meeting Hoku's schedule goals, including the reactor demonstration in the second quarter of calendar year 2009, partial commercial operation in the second half of calendar year 2009, and full commercial operation in the first half of calendar year 2010. Before the change order, $1.5 million of the $5 million in bonuses was allocated to the schedule goals. The change order increases that amount to $3.5 million of the $5 million, with the remaining $1.5 million in potential bonus payments to be awarded for achieving budget and safety goals. All bonus payments, if earned, would be payable upon final completion of the construction of the plant.
"The revised milestone schedule realigns JH Kelly's incentives with our current schedule, which is to start-up the plant and commence shipments to our customers in the second half of calendar year 2009, which may be before our TCS plant is operational," said Dustin Shindo, chairman and CEO of Hoku Scientific. "This is consistent with the recently announced change to our engineering and procurement agreement with Stone & Webster, Inc. As unexpected changes in the timing and amount of payments from our customers have required us to shift our schedule to manage cash, JH Kelly has proven to be a trusted and reliable partner."
"We are very proud to be working on this polysilicon plant with Hoku," said Mason Evans, president of JH Kelly. "Our team pushed hard through the winter to stay on schedule. We're excited to start turning areas over to Hoku to commence operations over the next few months."
About Hoku Scientific, Inc.
Hoku Scientific (
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve many risks and uncertainties. These statements relate to the cost and schedule for completing the engineering, procurement and construction of the Hoku Materials polysilicon plant; Hoku Materials' ability to procure trichlorosilane (TCS) from a third party; and the timing and amount of cash that Hoku Materials will need to maintain its construction and operations schedule for calendar year 2009 and 2010; Hoku Materials' ability to successfully operate a polysilicon production plant, including its ability to start-up its polysilicon plant and commence shipments to customers in the second half of calendar year 2009; JH Kelly's ability to meet its construction schedule in its contract with Hoku Materials; Hoku Scientific's future financial performance; Hoku Scientific's business strategy and plans; and objectives of management for future operations. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "anticipate," "believe," "can," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will," "would" and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Hoku Scientific's actual results, performance, time frames or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, time frames or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Given these risks, uncertainties and other factors, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. In evaluating these statements, you should specifically consider the risks described in Hoku Scientific's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, Hoku Scientific assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.
Hoku, Hoku Solar, and the Hoku Scientific logo are trademarks of Hoku Scientific, Inc., and Hoku Materials is the trademark of Hoku Materials, Inc., all rights reserved.
