Hoku Scientific Inc. has amended two contracts to give it $5 million of payments sooner as it looks to raise cash for a polysilicon manufacturing plant it is building in Idaho.

The company said contracts with Tianwei New Energy Holdings Co. Ltd. had been reworked to accelerate $5 million of $7 million in prepayments the Chengdu, China-based company was to pay Hoku. In return, Hoku has reduced prices it will charge Tianwei for polysilicon to be produced at the plant.
“The early payment of $5 million has helped us manage cash flow for our Hoku Materials subsidiary, especially as some of our other customers were requesting extensions of time to make their prepayments to us,” said Dustin Shindo, chief executive officer of Honolulu-based Hoku, in a press statement.
Hoku recently announced it needed another $106 million to complete the $390 million plant and that it was looking for new sources of cash.