In her time working on the RHI scheme for Ofgem, Ms Clifton reported to her boss Jacqueline Balian.

In Ms Balian's statement to the inquiry, she said she "wasn't conscious of any flaws" in the initiative, nor did she know of any "difficulties in the relationship" between Ofgem and Stormont's Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI).

Image source, Getty Images

Ms Balian was more closely involved with the Great Britain RHI scheme, and explains that the legislation for it was so loose that there was no requirement for applicants to be energy efficient.

She outlines some of the requests that were made about potential applications to it that were "arguably not in the public interest".

One of those was an request about whether heating a lake for windsurfing would be eligible under the scheme; another request was to heat a games room "with a large hole in the roof".

While the lake ultimately didn't get the benefit of the RHI scheme, the open-air games room bizarrely did end up receiving public money to heat it...

Mr Porter's appearance this morning is a brief one and he's free to go after less than an hour.

After a quick break, next up is his Ofgem colleague Teri Clifton.

Image source, RHI Inquiry

She was a senior operations manager working for the administrator on the RHI schemes in both Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

In that role, she managed the teams who worked on the accreditation of applications to the scheme.

You can find Ms Clifton's written statement to the inquiry here, external.

Mr Aiken begins by attempting to flesh out some issues surrounding loans from the Carbon Trust.

The trust provided interest-free loans to encourage businesses to invest in energy-efficient equipment.

That resulted in questions being raised about a possible breach of EU state aid rules if RHI claimants had already received a Carbon Trust loan.

Mr Porter's view was, as Mr Aiken puts it: "You just do RHI - that's it."

Specific guidance was issued for the RHI scheme in November 2012, stating that "Northern Ireland RHI support will only be available for an eligible installation if no grant from public funds has been made" in respect of purchasing or installing the equipment.

Problems subsequently arose when potential RHI applicants were told that Carbon Trust loans were compatible.

BBC News Northern Ireland

After spending yesterday afternoon in the witness chair, Ofgem lawyer Marcus Porter retakes the seat for a while longer.

He is reassured by Sir Patrick that the reference to "sensationalism" is not in relation to his evidence.

Image source, RHI Inquiry

Mr Porter smiles and says he "hadn't heard the news".

"You're probably a fortunate man, Mr Porter," jokes the chair.

Chair Sir Patrick Coghlin begins by reissuing his request for media coverage of the inquiry to be "balanced, fair and objective".

Having made a similar statement at the outset of the inquiry in November, he says he's now "a little concerned of the possibility of sensationalism arising".

His comment comes in the wake of the evidence heard from Northern Ireland Civil Service boss David Sterling on Monday, during which he said civil servants had got into the "habit" of not minuting meetings with ministers so as to frustrate freedom of information requests.

Image source, RHI Inquiry

Sir Patrick makes no mention of Mr Sterling's evidence, but it's clear that's what his comment is in relation to, given the coverage of it over the past few days.

"Nobody is on trial before this panel - there is no power for this panel... to impose civil liability," he adds

He makes his remarks in order to "calm, a little, the way forward" in the inquiry, and allow witnesses to feel "confident" that they'll be "dealt with in a fair and equitable manner".

Junior counsel Joseph Aiken is keen to get cracking but inquiry chair Sir Patrick Coghlin points out that they're a bit early.

Image source, RHI Inquiry

Mr Aiken says it'll give him time to thank the Department of Finance's legal representative Christine Smith QC for coming to his "rescue when my papers headed off into the wind in the car park".

Like we said earlier, it's blowing a gale up here on the hill.

BBC News Northern Ireland

There were differing versions of the minutes of a teleconference in which DETI was warned of the risks of the RHI scheme, the inquiry heard.

Image source, Getty Images

Marcus Porter, a lawyer for Ofgem, the body paid to run the scheme, wanted the dangers of proceeding without a key cost control "hammered home" in the record of the meeting.

But the wording on the issue was "watered down" by another Ofgem employee, the inquiry was told.

BBC News Northern Ireland

An independent inquiry into the RHI scandal was established in January last year by the then finance minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir.

He ordered it in the wake of the huge public concern and what was then a developing political crisis surrounding the scheme.

The RHI Inquiry began in November and Sir Patrick Coghlin (below), a retired Court of Appeal judge, is its chair and has been given full control over how it will operate.

Image source, Pacemaker

It will look at:

• the design and introduction of the RHI scheme
• the scheme's initial operation, administration, promotion and supervision
• the introduction of revised subsidies and a usage cap for new scheme claimants in 2015
• the scheme's closure

For more information on the RHI Inquiry, you can read our handy Q&A.

When the scale of the overspend emerged, public and political concern rocketed.

As the minister in charge of the Stormont department that set up the RHI scheme, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Arlene Foster faced calls to resign from her role as Northern Ireland's first minister in December 2016.

Image source, PA

She resisted, and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness then quit as deputy first minister in protest at the DUP's handling of what had by then become a full-blown political crisis.

That move brought about the collapse of the Northern Ireland Executive. Now, more than a year on from that, Northern Ireland remains without a devolved administration.

You can find much more detail on the RHI scheme in our need-to-know guide.

The budget of the RHI scheme ran out of control because of critical flaws in the way it was set up.

Claimants could effectively earn more money the more fuel they burned because the subsidies on offer for renewable fuels were far greater than the cost of the fuels themselves.

The most recent estimate for the overspend was set at £700m, if permanent cost controls aren't introduced.

The massive overspend bill will have to be picked up by the Northern Ireland taxpayer.

The Renewable Heat Incentive scheme - or RHI for short - came to the fore of the Northern Ireland public's knowledge in late-2016... and the fallout from the scandal attached to it is still being felt in the region's politics today.

Image source, getty

The scheme was set up by the Northern Ireland Executive in 2012, as a way of encouraging businesses to switch from using fossil fuels to renewable sources for generating their heat.

Those who signed up were offered financial incentives to buy new heating systems and the fuel to run them.

With the wild and windy weather raging outside, its a good day be hunkered down in the BBC's Stormont bunker observing the Renewable Heat Incentive Inquiry unfold in the Senate chamber upstairs.

Day 46 kicks off shortly.

Ofgem official Marcus Porter will be here for a short while to complete his evidence session from yesterday, and he'll be followed by his colleague Teri Clifton.