By Andrew Gomes – staradvertiser.com

An on-and-off effort by the owner of an idle Hawaii island renewable energy power plant to obtain damages in federal court from Hawaiian Electric is on again and seeks over $1 billion.

Hu Honua Bioenergy LLC last week sought permission in U.S. District Court in Hawaii to reopen a case it filed against the state’s largest regulated utility company in 2016 and settled conditionally in 2017.

The bioenergy firm has been working for over a dec­ade to produce electricity by burning eucalyptus trees growing along the Hamakua Coast as well as other woody plants, but the project has been beset by a host of struggles involving construction, regulatory approvals, legal challenges and other things.

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