History
The oldest Jaruga power plant was the first alternating current (AC) power system in Croatia, the first commercial hydro power plant in Europe, and second in the world. It was set in operation on 28 August 1895 at 20:00, three days after the Adams Power Plant on the Niagara Falls. It was designed to power the street lights in Šibenik, making it the third city in the world with street lights powered by a polyphase system of alternating current (AC).
In 1893, the mayor of Šibenik Ante Šupuk and one Vjekoslav Meichser started a business and obtained a license to use the waters of river Krka, and in 1894 they obtained permission to set up electrical power lines on municipal property in order to start lighting the streets with electric power. The construction of Jaruga started in 1894 and lasted for 16 months.
The two generators (42 Hz, 550 kW each) and the transformers were produced and installed by the Hungarian company Ganz. The transmission line from the power plant to the city of Šibenik was 11 km (6.8 mi) long on wooden towers, and the municipal distribution grid 3000V/110 V included six transformer stations. The original Jaruga system supplied 340 street lights and some electrified houses in Šibenik.
Croatian Post printed a stamp commemorating this power plant in 1995. The Croatian national electricity company HEP lists the same event and date as its origin and marks the date.
Three years after the first Jaruga was built, the construction of the second Jaruga hydro power plant began, the current location. It was completed in 1903 when its capacity was 6 MW.
Since its construction, the current Jaruga has been refurbished in 1916, 1937, 1970, 1995 and 2008, but the basic concept of the plant had been maintained. In 1936 a second generator was installed that increased the capacity to 5,6 MW.
Read more about this topic: Jaruga Hydroelectric Power Plant
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