Hoku Secures Financing to Complete Pocatello Plant

Chinese solar energy firm Tianwei New Energy Holdings Co., Ltd., is now – officially – the majority owner of Hoku Scientific, a Hawaii-based clean tech company building a polysilicon plant in Pocatello.

Dustin Shindo, chairman and CEO of Hoku, said the stock sale and subsequent financing agreements close a crucial funding gap for the Pocatello project, which had been slowed over the past year by shortfall of between $106 million and $121 million.

Full scale construction at the Pocatello plant is set to resume, and equipment that had been placed on hold pending Hoku’s receipt of financing is on its way, the company reported.

Read the full article from the Idaho Business Review by clicking here.

Other Regional Business News

Pacific Ethanol resumes production in Burley

Pacific Ethanol, Inc. on Jan. 6 said it resumed production at its Magic Valley facility in Burley, Idaho. The plant is designed to produce 60 million gallons of ethanol per year.   Click to read more

Idaho's Tax Burden Among the Lowest in the Nation

The Idaho Business Review reported today that Idaho has the sixth lowest overall per capita tax burden in the country and the lowest tax burden among western states, according to the latest tax burden study published by the Idaho Tax Commission. Click Here to read the entire article.

Women's Business Groups Host Health Care Forum in Boise

Business owners curious how health care reform may impact their operations are invited to attend a forum Sept. 15 sponsored by the Southern Idaho Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners and Women Impacting Public Policy.

The forum, titled “Understanding the Current Health Care Bill”, will take place from 9:30 a.m. till 12 p.m. at the Cascade Room of the Holiday Inn Vista in Boise.

Read the full article from the Idaho Business Reviewhttp://www.nawbo.org/ here.

Cutting edge mobile security technology tested at BYU-Idaho

The Idaho Business Review reports that a new technology that makes mobile business transactions more secure is being tested at Brigham Young University-Idaho.

The “open-encryption platform”, developed at the Idaho National Laboratory and licensed to Idaho Falls-based RFinity, uses a secure microSD card with a contactless interface designed by international security technology firm Giesecke & Devriet.

Integrating RFinity’s platform with G&D’s chip will make the world’s most reliable and secure identification and transaction system for use with mobile phones, according to a news release.

The open-encryption platform was honored this year by R&D Magazine in its R&D 100 list of “technologically significant products.”

Read the complete article from the Idaho Business Review here.

Wind Farm News: Ridgeline Energy enters into power purchase agreement for Idaho project

The Idaho Business Review reported Thursday that Ridgeline Energy, a Seattle-based firm with wind developments in eastern Idaho, has entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement with Southern California Edison to deliver between 90 MW and 130 MW of power from its Goshen Phase II project east of Idaho Falls.

The project, a joint development between Ridgeline and BP Wind Energy, has been through the permitting process and is ready to be built.

Click here to read the full article.

Otter Pledges to Grow Idaho's Economy

Idaho Business Review reporter Simon Shifrin reports:

Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter said he hopes to “under promise and over deliver” on his pledge to grow Idaho’s annual gross domestic product from $51 billion to $60 billion by the time he leaves office during his “state of the state address to the business community” at The Grove Hotel in Boise [on August 28th]...

Read more from the Idaho Business Review...