LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Covid-19: About half of wind turbine support not repaid 

Credit:  By John Campbell, BBC News NI Economics & Business Editor | www.bbc.com ~~

About half the Covid-19 support funds given to wind turbine owners in Northern Ireland have not yet been paid back.

Fifty-two wind turbine owners received emergency £10,000 grants last year.

The sector was subsequently ruled ineligible by the Department for the Economy (DfE) and it said it would try to recover the money.

A new Audit Office report said “just over half” had been recovered and DfE is working to recover the rest.

The report found that almost £245m was paid out to businesses under the Small Business Support Grant Scheme.

The auditor general estimates that £13.5m could have been paid to recipients who were not eligible under the scheme rules.

That means just under 95% of the grants were correctly paid.

So far officials have identified:

£5.68m of potentially ineligible payments, including £2m in duplicate payment
£0.7m paid to landlords rather than tenants
£0.5m paid to the wind turbine owners.

To date, £1.76m of this has been recovered and efforts continue to recover the balance, although it is not clear how much will be recouped.

‘Exceptionally challenging circumstances’

The auditor, Kieran Donnelly, said it was worth highlighting that more than £800,000 has been returned by businesses who received the funding but paid it back without any requirement to do so.

He said it was “important to recognise that this scheme was designed and launched under exceptionally challenging circumstances and at an extreme pace”.

However he added that lessons could still be learned: “In particular, I want to highlight the importance of a collaborative approach in developing similar schemes in the future.

“Better early engagement across departmental boundaries and with business representatives would have helped the department target support to those most in need.

“A small amount of additional time at the design stage may have provided more protection to public funds and helped reduce the need for changes to the eligibility criteria after the scheme had launched.”

A spokesperson for Department for the Economy said that the Small Business Support Scheme “was not a routine support scheme delivered in normal times”.

“It was an emergency response to a crisis and, without it, many Northern Ireland businesses may not have survived and many more jobs could have been lost,” said the spokesperson.

“As the NIAO report stated, the scheme was designed and launched under exceptionally challenging circumstances and at an extreme pace.

“While it is important to place the scheme in the context of the unprecedented crisis brought about by the devastating impact of the Covid 19 pandemic at that time, the department will consider the recommendations made in the NIAO report.”

Source:  By John Campbell, BBC News NI Economics & Business Editor | www.bbc.com

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon