AVK Fusion Indonesia supplied over 350,000 fittings into Jargas projects last year. This was an increase over the previous period despite a reduction in total Jargas house connections of 6%.
Jack Barnsley is Business Development Manager for AVK Fusion Indonesia:
‘As with the vast majority of countries, the Indonesian economy has been hit by the impact of Covid-19. The Indonesian government, and all those in the gas supply chain, deserve great credit for maintaining the momentum of gas installations in such challenging conditions.’
Over the past twelve months, AVK Fusion Indonesia sold electrofusion fittings into nine of the ten Jargas projects. Activity was strongest in 20mm house connections: tapping saddles, couplers, reducers, elbows and transition fittings to connect the polyethylene distribution pipe to the internal galvanised pipework. Other sizes supplied ranged from 63mm up to 180mm.
According to Jack Barnsley, the next twelve months could be the most exciting yet for Indonesia’s challenging gas connection plans:
‘For the last six years, Jargas has been funded and led by the Indonesian government. From August 2021, responsibility will pass to Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN), a company quoted on the Indonesian stock market (IDX) and jointly owned by the government and private investors.
The government has set a target of having 4.7m homes connected to the gas distribution network by 2025. PGN, and its subsidiaries, will help provide the operations capacity to meet this goal.’
There will need to be a considerable increase in skilled gas engineers and construction workers to meet the government’s aspirations. A parallel growth in specialist plant and equipment will also be required.
AVK Fusion Indonesia has already put in place the training and service capacity to support these requirements:
‘Earlier in 2021 we opened the AVK Fusion Indonesia Service Centre. The Service Centre calibrates, maintains and repairs the electrofusion boxes supplied by AVK Fusion Indonesia. If required, our engineers can also visit installation contractors on site to resolve equipment issues. The ability to optimise electrofusion box productivity will become increasingly important as house connection targets rise.’
Jack Barnsley is one of two members of the AVK Fusion Indonesia team to be EUSR (Energy and Utility Skills Register) accredited to deliver electrofusion training. Installers trained by the AVK Fusion Indonesia team qualify for a recognised industry certification.
‘These are exciting times for gas in Indonesia. The government has been very supportive of the sector and continues to set challenging goals. I’m sure that, over time, Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi and other islands will be connected by distribution pipelines to form a national gas ‘grid’.’