As an environmentally-friendly energy source, natural gas is an important part of our energy mix. Due to its low carbon content, natural gas is the fossil fuel with the lowest greenhouse gas emissions when burnt. Even when transported by pipelines, the emergent greenhouse gas emissions are much lower than had been assumed not so long ago.

In 2009, our gas and oil power plants had a power production capacity of 27.4 GW. In spite of the advantageous CO₂ footprint of natural gas, we will not be substantially increasing the number of natural gas powered plants by 2015. This is because natural gas is more suitable for covering mid and peak load than it is for base load coverage. Gas power plants are operationally flexible, and therefore can be started up and closed down in a short time. Highly efficient modern gas power plants (gas and steam plants) operate in the so-called mid-load area. Older gas power plants or gas turbine plants will be used to cover peak load periods.

In the future, we will place more emphasis on the advantages of natural gas as a fuel source for vehicles. E.ON Ruhrgas will accelerate the expansion of the natural gas station network. At the same time, incentives will be developed to convert vehicles over to using natural gas as fuel, or to incorporate it into new acquisitions.