O

ne of the hurdles facing the solar- powered energy sector is the global shortage of polysilicon, a key material used in the manufacturing of solar cells. A Hawaii- based company is rapidly moving to develop a project in Pocatello, Idaho, that will fill some of that void.
   Hoku Materials, a subsidiary of Hoku Scientific, held ceremonial groundbreaking ceremonies at its planned production site on March 27. Hoku signed a 99- year lease with the City of Pocatello for a 67- acre (27- hectare) site for the facility.

Dustin Shindo

Hoku also has an option to lease 450 more acres (182 hectares), owned by the city, for possible future expansion. The site is between the Great Western Malting Company and the JR Simplot plants.
   Hoku, a six- year- old company focusing on clean energy technology, says it will employ about 200 at the $260- million facility. It will supply Sanyo, the world's fourth largest manufacturer of solar panels, with polysilicon. Sanyo is paying approximately $110 million up front through prepayments for products, which will be paid to Hoku as it achieves certain production and quality milestones.
   Dustin Shindo, chairman and CEO of Hoku Scientific, tells Site Selection three factors led his company to Pocatello.
   "First and most important is the community," Shindo says. "The people there and the governmental organizations were very welcoming. They are very capable people. Secondly, it has the resources, including land and the hydroelectric power, which is very important to us for low- cost electricity. And Pocatello has good transportation infrastructure with rail, roads and an airport all in a convenient location."
   Shindo says his company's search was global – at one point Singapore was the frontrunner. Pocatello, however, emerged with the right mix.
   Hoku's Pocatello plant will manufacture about 2,000 metric tons of polysilicon annually. Shindo anticipates the plant will be complete during the second half of 2008, with shipments to Sanyo planned for the first half of 2009. He says the facility will employ a wide range of people, from executives with experience in making polysilicon to process and chemical engineers to production employees.
   Shindo says despite new polysilicon production coming on line around the globe, the shortage remains acute and will continue to be so for awhile.
   "The shortage is severe and if you can make it, there's someone who wants to buy it," Shindo says. "But it's not that easy to make, or everyone would make it."
   Hoku Scientific is based in Kapolei, Hawaii, and has historically focused on developing new products for hydrogen fuel cells. The polysilicon business represents a new thrust for the company.
   The State of Idaho is contributing $1.2 million in work- force training funds and has provided the City of Pocatello with $200,000 to offset public facility costs.

Hoku Scientific Chairman and CEO Dustin Shindo, third from left, front row, and Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, to his left, joined local and state officials in a ceremonial groundbreaking in March.

   For IsoRay Medical, it's a question of "if they build it, we will come." IsoRay, based in Richland, Wash., has plans to build a manufacturing facility in Pocatello to produce its patented radioisotope technology that targets cancer. The company began production and sales of its first FDA- cleared product, the IsoRay brachytherapy seed, in 2004 for the treatment of prostate cancer. About 1,400 patients are currently being treated.
   But IsoRay has ambitious plans to grow its business and expand the range of cancers its product treats. This is where the "rabbit," otherwise known as a transfer shuttle irradiation facility, comes in. The Idaho National Laboratory in nearby Idaho Falls has plans to install a rabbit by 2009. The effort got a boost in December when the State of Idaho agreed to invest $2 million in the project in the form of a loan. The funds will help the Battelle Energy Alliance speed up the installation at the INL's Advanced Test Reactor. Use of the rabbit reduces irradiation times and makes it attractive for IsoRay to produce its Cesium- 131 isotope.
   "We've been looking at Pocatello for some time," says Roger Girard, IsoRay Medical's chairman and CEO. "What happens depends on the national reactor and how fast they put in the rabbit."
   Girard says the scope of the manufacturing facility hasn't been determined, but that it will be a "substantial" plant. He says only a few nuclear reactors in the world have the capability to produce the isotope. IsoRay currently uses facilities at the University of Missouri and in Europe.
   "Medical isotopes will play a larger role in fighting cancer as a less- invasive therapy," Girard says. "The results so far are extremely good for a cure rate. What happens with this platform technology will apply to all soft tissue malignancies in the body. The world market for this is huge."
   Cesium- 131's advantage in treatment of cancer is that it has a significantly shorter half- life with a high level of energy, IsoRay officials say. IsoRay also has plans to locate manufacturing facilities in Eastern Europe and in eastern Russia, Girard says.