Enabling scalable gas network modelling at PGN with Synergi Gas Solver
PGN, Indonesia’s largest gas distributor, has transformed how it builds and manages hydraulic models, moving from manual constraints to scalable, automated analysis with Synergi Gas Solver.
The opportunity and challenge
PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) is Indonesia’s largest gas distributor, responsible for delivering natural gas across a wide and growing network of transmission and distribution infrastructure. As the company expands its operations to meet increasing national demand and support energy transition goals, ensuring reliable network performance and efficient planning has become central to its operations.
For more than eight years, PGN has worked closely with DNV, leveraging Synergi Gas to support its network planning and operational decision-making. Over time, this partnership has evolved to address increasingly complex challenges, particularly the need to develop and maintain accurate hydraulic models across all operational areas.
The challenge: Building hydraulic models at scale
Building hydraulic models for a national gas network is a demanding and resource-intensive process. For PGN, this meant constructing models from scratch across all operational areas, while continuously updating them to reflect changing supply, demand, and operational conditions.
Each pipeline segment required multiple simulation iterations to calculate capacity and performance. In manual workflows, these iterations could quickly become unmanageable.
As Zulkarnaen, Senior Analyst, Gas Planning and Operations at PGN, explains: “It has been a long journey to build hydraulic models from scratch across all our operational areas. The calculations depend on parameters that change constantly, and carrying out these simulations manually is simply not feasible at scale.”
With thousands of variables to consider, and in some cases, requiring hundreds or even thousands of iterations per scenario, the manual supervision of these calculations placed significant constraints on engineering teams.
The solution: Synergi Gas Solver
In seeking a more scalable approach, PGN worked closely with DNV to optimise how they used Synergi Gas, with a particular focus on strengthening their use of Synergi Gas Solver.
The team recognised that simulation calculations could be carried out without the need to display the full network. This opened up a more efficient way to handle large scale modelling challenges.
“We realised there was software capable of performing simulation calculations without the need to fully display the network. That was when we discovered Synergi Gas Solver,” says Zulkarnaen.
This shift, from relying on fully visual network models to applying Synergi Gas Solver’s algorithm driven capabilities, enabled PGN engineers to approach hydraulic analysis in a more scalable and practical way across their extensive network.
How it works and what it changed
With Synergi Gas Solver, PGN engineers no longer needed to manually execute and supervise each simulation run. Instead, they define key parameters at the pipeline segment level, and Synergi Gas Solver algorithm automatically performs the required calculations.
“Synergi Gas Solver can execute thousands of iterations automatically, without requiring continuous operation or supervision by engineers. Once we define the minimum parameters, the system runs the simulations on its own,” explains Zulkarnaen.
This shift transformed hydraulic modelling from a labour-intensive process into a scalable engineering workflow. What was previously considered an “impossible task” became a manageable and repeatable process, allowing PGN to analyse complex scenarios more efficiently and with greater consistency.
The impact extends beyond efficiency. With faster simulations and clearer outputs, PGN is able to provide more accessible and reliable data to internal stakeholders, supporting faster and more informed decision-making across the organisation.
A long-term relationship built on trust
The successful implementation of Synergi Gas Solver is rooted in PGN’s long-standing partnership with DNV. Over more than eight years of collaboration, the two organisations have worked together to continuously improve PGN’s digital capabilities in gas network planning and operations.
This relationship reflects a shared commitment to applying engineering expertise and digital tools to real operational challenges. As PGN continues to expand its network and adapt to evolving energy demands, DNV remains a trusted partner in supporting these efforts.
Looking ahead, PGN sees continued value in further leveraging Synergi Gas and Synergi Gas Solver to support future network growth, operational optimisation, and digitalisation initiatives in Indonesia’s gas sector.
