This year, on August 28, the electricity industry in Croatia will have its 115th anniversary: on that date, marked as the Day of Hrvatska Elektroprivreda since 1995, the first alternating current electricity system of production, transmission and distribution was set up in Šibenik.
The alternating current two-phase system comprised production of electricity in the Krka hydro power plant on the falls of the Krka river, transmission of electricity by a two-phase line to the city of Šibenik 11 km away and a distribution network with two switching and six transformer stations mounted on the roofs of the houses. It was the first true and integral and, at the time, modern electricity system. The construction of the Krka hydro power plant began on March 22, 1894 and ended within a record 16 months, quite a feat for the then conditions for building and equipment transportation! The Krka HPP was the first public ac hydro power plant in Croatia, put in operation just two days after the most famous and the first large capacity one on the Niagara Falls. The builders of the Krka-Šibenik system were Ante knight Šupuk , Šibenik's mayor and Dalmatian delegate to the Empire’s Council in Vienna, his son Marko and Vjekoslav pl. Meichsner – chief surveyor and city counselor. The Šibenik’s electricity was among the first such systems in the world, a proof that culture and technology were reaching Croatia and that it was an advanced part of Europe and the world.
