CCUS Track 1 reaches FID. East Coast Cluster + HyNet break ground.

The Track 1 CCUS clusters, East Coast Cluster (Teesside + Humber) and HyNet (North West), have moved from FID into construction. Track 2, Acorn (Scotland) and Viking (Humber), follow, with cluster sequencing under the DESNZ framework setting the staged delivery profile. Together the four clusters provide the UK industrial decarbonisation infrastructure for steel, cement, chemicals, refining, hydrogen production and BECCS pathways.

The cluster framework is the strategic policy innovation. Rather than project-by-project capture support, clusters provide shared transport + storage (T&S) infrastructure, anchor capture projects with phased expansion, blue hydrogen production integration, and BECCS pathway integration (Drax + East Coast — Gap 31). The Hydrogen Allocation Round (Gap 13) provides parallel hydrogen production support, with blue hydrogen via autothermal reforming + capture integrated at cluster scale.

For cluster anchor companies (BP, Equinor, Shell, TotalEnergies, INEOS, ENI and others) the variables are cluster delivery, capture infrastructure, T&S operation and commercial framework with industrial customers. For DESNZ + Ofgem, cluster sequencing, cost recovery and cross-utility coordination shape the rollout. For industrial customers (Tata Steel, British Steel, Heidelberg Materials, Hanson and others) cluster connection is the decarbonisation pathway alongside electrification and hydrogen substitution.

Geographic concentration drives the AIGZ overlay (Gap 18): Northeast AIGZ in the Tees Valley sits adjacent to East Coast Cluster; North Wales and South Wales AIGZ are HyNet-adjacent. The hydrogen for heat pathway (Gap 44) and hydrogen storage emergence (Gap 45) interact with cluster supply. Heat decarbonisation (Gap 46 · the Gas flagship) in cluster regions retains hydrogen as a domestic + commercial heat source.

GridteamAI's Gap 33 report decodes UK CCUS Track 1 + Track 2 — the cluster sequencing framework, the anchor projects, the T&S infrastructure, the blue hydrogen integration, the BECCS pathway and the cross-volume integration with hydrogen, heat decarbonisation, AIGZ, workforce and the broader Net Zero pathway. For HSEQA + sustainability advisory firms, CCS site safety + ISO + customer + community engagement across cluster sites is a high-value programme service line.