PHOTO: JU NP KRKA
Hydro Power Plant Krka

The first hydropower plant in the world connected to the electric power system

The left bank of the river Krka, beneath the Skradinski buk waterfall, is the site of the remnants of the first hydropower plant in Croatia. The “Krka” hydropower plant, also known as “Jaruga”, was built and commissioned on 28 August 1895, only a day after the first AC hydroelectric power plant in the world became operational on the Niagara River. Both hydropower plant projects were the work of Nikola Tesla.

The Krka hydropower plant was built for the purpose of installing electric street lighting in the town of Šibenik. Thanks to the business partners and constructors of the plant Ante Šupuk (the mayor of Šibenik at the time) and engineer Vjekoslav Meichsner, Šibenik thus received street lighting before many other European cities.