We name cash row company
Secret firm given £500,000 revealed
This is a vast sum of money. It must be used in a fair and proper way
The secret firm handed £500,000 of taxpayers’ money by a Scottish Government quango were responsible for a renewable energy scheme branded “high risk” and “unsustainable” by a watchdog.
We can reveal that the company given the Scottish Enterprise (SE) grant along with a highly controversial confidentiality agreement were Silva Renewables – a firm hoping to develop a contentious biomass plant in Grangemouth.
The company are controlled by three directors, all registered to addresses at multi- billionpound Danish fund managers Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.
Company secretaries Jordan Cosec Ltd are registered in Bristol but are part of a firm whose corporate services centre is in the British Virgin Islands.
When the Sunday Mai l contacted Jordan Cosec asking for help with our inquiry, we were put through to a man who replied: “A press inquiry? Gosh – that’s an excellent question.”
No one responded further – and neither Silva nor subsidiary Grangemouth Renewable Energy appear to have a website or contact details.
The extraordinary deal was revealed in the Sunday Mail last week but the firm were only identified when the quango went back on their initial position.
SE said: “At the point of responding to this FoI request, we agreed to withhold the company name as it was at a critical point in securing additional f inance from other sources.
“Time has moved on and we can confirm Silva Renewables were the recipient of £ 475,000 over a three- year period to support their growth ambitions.
“Thi s compr i sed funding of £ 80,000 and a repayable grant of £ 395,000, which will be fully repaid.”
SE have written off almost £100million invested in failed ventures over the last decade – with renewables f i rms inf licting some of the heaviest losses.
Edinburgh wave power f irm Aquamarine folded in 2015 after receiving £ 15million of public funds. Tidal energy company Pelamis were given £16million before going out of business. Last year, Silva’ s Grangemouth scheme, which would make fuel from wood pellets, was deemed an “unsustainable, high-risk potential investment” by environmental group Biofuelwatch. They claim biomass plants cause climate change through CO2 emissions just the same as fossil fuel plants, as well as adding to deforestation.
The Grangemouth plant was first proposed by the Scottish Government in 2013 but in 2014 Forth Energy announced they were pulling out after utilities giant SSE decided not to invest. Silva are behind a new scaled-back proposal.
Directors of Silva and their subsid iar y Grangemouth Renewable Energy are Rune Bro Roin and Christina Grumstrup Sorensen, who are Danish, and a Brit ish “investment professional” Radu Gruescu.
All three give their address in Companies House documents as Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners in Denmark. Secretaries Jordan Cosec are part of company services firm Jordans – in turn, part of Vistra, whose corporate services centre is in the British Virgin Islands.
Despite the huge sums of public money handed out by SE, the Scottish Government refused to get involved in the Silva revelations.
A spokesman said: “Arrangements involving commercial confidentiality agreements between SE and a private firm are a matter for SE.”
The secret deal came to light as a result of an FOI request submitted by the Sunday Mail over grants and loans given to businesses in the past five years. Scottish Lib Dems leader Willie Rennie tabled a parliamentary question to the Scottish Government after our story, calling for ministers to ensure transparency at SE. He said: “This is a vast sum. The public have the right to expect safeguards to be in place to make sure it is used fairly, properly and in a transparent way.”
SE named Steve Dunlop as their chief executive in April, six months af ter Lena Wilson – who headed the quango for almost eight years – left.
SE said: “Harnessing benefits of renewable energy projects can protect our environment while creating opportunities for economic growth.”