Dirty, yet abundant and easily shipped, coal is starting to challenge natural gas as the fuel of choice for new power plants.

This is because coal prices are relatively cheaper and not so volatile, industry executives and experts say.

Utilities around the world have increasingly turned to gas to meet a doubling of electricity demand over the next 25 years, while curbing greenhouse gas emissions, like carbon dioxide (CO2), blamed for causing global warming but this is changing.

“The role of natural gas role in power generation is not a slam dunk. There are relative price, emissions and security issues to take into account,” said Gerald Doucet of the World Energy Council on the sidelines of a gas conference this week.

At a separate coal conference, the mining industry was also upbeat about demand to turn coal into synthetic fuels like diesel or gas, and urged greater efforts to develop technology to clean up the fuel’s emissions.

“The prospects are improving for coal-fired stations. The future is clean. The coal industry can play a great role. It’s a great opportunity which we must not lose,” said Leigh Clifford, chief executive of Rio Tinto.

By Marguerita Choy

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