Credited to Croatia. Sources differ on rank. Croatian press describes it as the second polyphase AC hydro plant in the world, opened two days after the Adams plant at Niagara Falls. Wikipedia states only that it was one of the first complete polyphase AC systems of production, transmission, distribution and consumption.
How it began
In 1893 Ante Šupuk, the mayor of Šibenik, his son Marko and the engineer Vjekoslav Meichser formed a business and obtained a license to use the waters of the Krka River. A year later they received a permit to put power lines on municipal property. Construction of the plant near the Skradinski Buk waterfall began in 1894 and took about sixteen months. It went into operation on August 28, 1895, and that evening supplied the street lights of Šibenik.
How it works
Water from the Krka drove a generator at the plant, with a capacity given as 240 kW. A transmission line about 11 kilometers long, carried on wooden towers, took the current to the city. There a municipal distribution grid of 3000 V and 110 V, with six transformer stations, delivered it to users. The system covered production, transmission, distribution and consumption of polyphase alternating current in one working whole.
What changed first
The power lit streets and supplied private homes, flour and oil mills, a pasta factory, theaters, cafes and hotels. Croatian accounts point out that the plant opened two days after the Adams plant at Niagara Falls, and that the first transmission from Niagara to Buffalo came only on November 16, 1896. They add that Paris and London were still using single-phase current at the time.
What lasted
A successor plant, Jaruga 2, was built between 1901 and 1904 to serve local industry, with a design capacity of up to 5.4 MW. The early success of alternating current hydro plants, built during the contest between alternating and direct current, is credited with helping the wider adoption of alternating current. The Krka to Šibenik system is recognized as one of the IEEE Milestones.
Where it stands today
Jaruga 2 is one of the oldest power-generating facilities still in operation. The small plant, inside Krka National Park in central Dalmatia, has a capacity of 7.3 MW and generates about 35 GWh a year on average. Visitors to the park can see an old turbine displayed at the site.
