Coal becoming attractive as power plant fuel again

Due to the high gas price, coal has becoming an attractive fuel option for new power plants. While the trend was to gas for newly planned plants in recent years, the energy and the coal industry are starting to investigate clean coal technology options, as an alternative to switching to high-price gas. The options include synthetic fuels (like gas and diesel) made of coal, and CO2 capture and storage solutions. By this end, industry experts hope to fill the growing gap between energy demand and the supply of gas and oil, which are per se less carbon intensive then coal.

Expert opinions diverge on the main options, however. Some point to the fact that free allocation of EUAs in Europe may be beneficial for coal plants, others believe that gas is still the main option.

See this article by Marguerita Choy on Reuters.