Hoku Corp., a Honolulu-based alternative energy provider, said today its net loss virtually doubled in its fiscal third quarter and that it is behind schedule and overbudget on the polysilicon plant it is building in Pocatello, Idaho.

The company, which currently derives most of its revenue from its solar division that installs and services photovoltaic systems in Hawaii, had a net loss of $3 million, or 6 cents a share, in its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31 compared with a loss of $1.3 million, or 6 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

Revenue more than quadrupled to $1.2 million from $259,000 a year ago. 

Scott Paul, president and chief executive officer of Hoku, said the revised capital budget for its 4,000-metric-ton polysilicon plant is now $700 million and that it now expects to begin shipping polysilicon, the raw material used to make solar panels, in the second half of this calendar year.