Hoku Scientific Inc. said yesterday it is changing its name to Hoku Corp. to reflect the expansion beyond its original focus of fuel cell technology when the company was founded in 2001.

Since then, Hoku has branched into solar energy technologies, and is in the final stages of building a plant in Idaho to manufacture polysilicon, used in the making of photovoltaic cells.

"When we founded the company, the name Hoku Scientific reflected our core research-driven business developing innovative fuel cell technology," Dustin Shindo, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a news release.

"However, as our business has continued to evolve, we felt the name Hoku Corporation better reflected our strategic direction as a diversified, global clean energy company."

Shindo, who founded Hoku Scientific and took it public in 2005, is scheduled to leave as CEO and the end of next month. He presided over a furious effort to nail down financing for the Idaho plant after funding sources dried up because of a global credit crunch. Last year, he was able to negotiate an investment by Tianwei New Energy Co. Ltd., a China-based company that now owns 60 percent of Hoku.

While the company's official corporate name is Hoku Corp., it will generally do business under the name Hoku, and as Hoku Solar and Hoku Materials for its photovoltaic systems installation and polysilicon businesses, respectively, according to the release.