Few companies have experienced the bumpy road of green-energy development as Hu Honua Bioenergy has. The state Supreme Court has upheld the Public Utilities Commission denial of an agreement to start operating its $520 million biomass plant on the Big Island.

In December, it will be 10 years since the PUC first approved the power purchase agreement with Hawaiian Electric Co. In the intervening decade, the landscape of climate-change policy has changed radically, to the chagrin of Hu Honua.