Honolulu-based Hoku Scientific Inc. said the company's four executive officers have requested that they not be paid any cash bonuses for the company's fiscal year ending March 31.

In March 2008, the independent members of Hoku's board of directors approved an executive compensation plan that provides for a combination of stock and cash bonuses that would be awarded, at the board's discretion, based on the company's successful progress in raising capital and in operating the planned polysilicon production facility in Idaho.

In a letter to the board, Hoku's executives wrote: "We feel we have made significant progress towards our objectives in fiscal 2009 by, among other things, securing the receipt of $103 million in cash prepayments from customers fiscal year-to-date; advancing our polysilicon production facility from basic civil construction all the way to initial reactor placement; and increasing the company's solar photovoltaic installation project portfolio by 600 percent as compared to fiscal 2008.

"However, in the current economic climate, we are asking our customers, vendors, suppliers, and employees for continuing support to manage our cash. We are each fully committed to the long term success of Hoku, and we respectfully ask that the Board of Directors forego consideration of cash bonuses to each of us for fiscal year 2009."