Honua Ola Bioenergy filed a motion Thursday for reconsideration, clarification and a further hearing with the state Public Utilities Commission in an attempt to reverse the agency’s 2-1 decision May 23 that rejected the company’s renewable energy project on Hawaii island.

The company, legally known as Hu Honua Bioenergy LLC, has been in a multiyear battle with the PUC and conservation nonprofit Life of the Land to operate a biomass plant in Pepeekeo that would burn eucalyptus trees to generate electricity. The plant, which is 99% completed and cost $520 million, would generate enough energy to power 14,000 homes.

However, the PUC said in its decision that Hu Honua should not be granted an amended power purchase agreement with Hawaiian Electric because the project will produce “significant” greenhouse gas emissions, while Hu Honua’s plan to sequester carbon is speculative and relies on “assumptions and unsupported assertions.” The com­mission also found that the amended power agreement is likely to result in high costs to ratepayers, both through its relatively high cost of electricity as well as through the potential displacement of other, lower-­cost, renewable resources.

PUC Chairman James Griffin and Jennifer Potter voted to deny the power purchase agreement, but Leodoloff Asuncion issued a dissenting opinion that Hu Honua and Hawaiian Electric had met their burden for approval.

“We believe the decision by Commissioners Griffin and Potter was in error because the PUC Majority exceeded its authority by considering issues outside the Hawai‘i Supreme Court’s mandate to only consider greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and misused its discretion by relying on erroneous findings of fact and applying a ‘clear and convincing standard’ instead of the ‘preponderance of the evidence’ standard,” Honua Ola President Warren Lee said in a statement.