Systems sold since cuts
contact with departmental officials running the RHI.
The business development manager for Alternative Heat, Fergal Hegarty, was told in 2015 that cost controls would be introduced in the autumn.
This information was passed on to Alternative Heat’s trading partners and the informa- tion quickly circulated throughout the wider industry.
David Scoffield, senior counsel for the inquiry, said they wished to get evidence from Mr Hegarty, but he had spent much of the last year travelling around the world.
Mr McMullan said Mr Hegarty was on unpaid leave at present, but was due to return to work next year.
Asked if his absence was related to the inquiry he said: “Not on my understanding, no”.
Although the cost controls introduced in 2015 made the scheme less lucrative, Mr McMullan said it was still enough to make it worthwhile.
He said he was “glad” of the changes as it made it more likely the scheme would be viable in the long term.
In February 2016, however, the closure of the RHI scheme was announced.
Mr Hegarty contacted Deti to tell them it had “very, very serious implications” for biomass boiler firms.
The inquiry heard that Deti official Seamus Hughes told Mr Hegarty it was “a dire situation”.
Mr Hegarty wrote to the department again to warn the closures meant firms had been left “out to dry with a basic overnight closure of the scheme”.
Concluding his evidence, Mr McMullan said his company had survived by focusing their efforts on the GB market.
“Any business focused on renewables in Northern Ireland has a cliff face to climb and I wouldn’t envy their task,” he said.
“For our side we wouldn’t bank on sales in renewable energy in Northern Ireland, certainly in the next decade.
Despite still having business in Great Britain, he said the RHI scandal meant his company had to live with a stigma.