Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much her Department has spent on developing (a) HyNet North West, (b) East Coast Cluster, (c) Acorn and (d) Viking CCS.

£210 million (matched by £261 million from industry) has been allocated through the UKRI Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge (IDC) since 2019 to drive the decarbonisation of the UK’s six major industrial clusters, of which £150 million has been allocated to projects within HyNet, East Coast Cluster, Acorn and Viking CCS clusters. The breakdown of funding allocated (all funding will be allocated by the end of March 2024) and funding provided to date through the IDC to projects within the clusters mentioned are as follows:

• HyNet North West
• Total Allocated – £32,850,730
• Funding Provided to Date - £29,732,965
• East Coast Cluster
• Total Allocated – £73,726,209
• Funding Provided to Date - £63,317,114
• Acorn
• Total Allocated – £31,376,167
• Funding Provided to Date - £26,451,986
• Viking CCS
• Total Allocated – £12,692,911
• Funding Provided to Date - £10,992,417

The clusters have also received funding through other sources other than the IDC. Since 2019, a) the HyNet cluster was awarded £8.5m, b) East Coast Cluster was awarded £1.3m c) the Scottish cluster was awarded £9.3m and d) the Viking CCS was awarded £7.9m of innovation funding under the BEIS CCUS Innovation, Advancing CCS Technologies (ACT) and Hydrogen Supply programmes.