Hoku Scientific, the Hawaiian fuel cell membrane developer which unusually decided to morph into a solar company, has just signed a 99 year contract on 67 acres of land to build their silicon wafer fab. Given that US property prices are down about 10% of their peak, the company did well to wait until now.

Or maybe not !

Hoku Scientific is only going to an annual rent of $1 per year, for the next 99 years and they may even get another 450 acres.

When complete, the plant will produce 2000 metric tons of polysilicon per year. That the land is effectively being given to them will help a lot to offset what should be a headache for any energy intensive fab - Hawaii's staggeringly high electricity prices.

One of Hoku's clients for all this polysilicon will be Germany's Solar Fabrik, who like most solar module manufacturers, just can't get enough of the stuff.