Milestone-Proposal:Krka – Šibenik Electric Power System

Docket #:2012-03

This Proposal has been approved, and is now a Milestone Nomination

This proposal has been submitted for review.

Is the achievement you are proposing more than 25 years old? Yes

Is the achievement you are proposing within IEEE’s fields of interest? (e.g. “the theory and practice of electrical, electronics, communications and computer engineering, as well as computer science, the allied branches of engineering and the related arts and sciences” – from the IEEE Constitution) Yes

Did the achievement provide a meaningful benefit for humanity? Yes

Was it of at least regional importance? Yes

Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to pay for the milestone plaque(s)? Yes

Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to arrange the dedication ceremony? Yes

Has the IEEE Section in which the milestone is located agreed to take responsibility for the plaque after it is dedicated? Yes

Has the owner of the site agreed to have it designated as an Electrical Engineering Milestone? Yes

Year or range of years in which the achievement occurred:

1895

Title of the proposed milestone:

Krka – Šibenik Electric Power System

Plaque citation summarizing the achievement and its significance:

In what IEEE section(s) does it reside?

Croatia

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) which have agreed to sponsor the Milestone:

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) paying for milestone plaque(s):

Unit: Croatia
Senior Officer Name: Senior officer name masked to public

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) arranging the dedication ceremony:

Unit: Croatia
Senior Officer Name: Senior officer name masked to public

IEEE section(s) monitoring the plaque(s):

IEEE Section: Croatia
IEEE Section Chair name: Section chair name masked to public

Milestone proposer(s):

Proposer name: Proposer's name masked to public
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public

Please note: your email address and contact information will be masked on the website for privacy reasons. Only IEEE History Center Staff will be able to view the email address.

Street address(es) and GPS coordinates of the intended milestone plaque site(s):

Šibenik, Croatia

Describe briefly the intended site(s) of the milestone plaque(s). The intended site(s) must have a direct connection with the achievement (e.g. where developed, invented, tested, demonstrated, installed, or operated, etc.). A museum where a device or example of the technology is displayed, or the university where the inventor studied, are not, in themselves, sufficient connection for a milestone plaque.

Please give the address(es) of the plaque site(s) (GPS coordinates if you have them). Also please give the details of the mounting, i.e. on the outside of the building, in the ground floor entrance hall, on a plinth on the grounds, etc. If visitors to the plaque site will need to go through security, or make an appointment, please give the contact information visitors will need.

Only ruins of the first power plant (Jaruga I) exist today. But the the power plant built in 1903 (Jaruga II) is still in operation. A memorial house („Šupuk House") devoted to Ante Šupuk, one of the builders of the first Krka electric power system, could also be a potential site for the plaque. GPS: 47.48' N;15.58'E

Are the original buildings extant?

Yes

Details of the plaque mounting:

How is the site protected/secured, and in what ways is it accessible to the public?

Both sites are secure and accessible to public

Who is the present owner of the site(s)?

Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP) and Krka National Park Dražen Šupuk, a direct descendant of Ante Šupuk, is the owner of the Šupuk House

A letter in English, or with English translation, from the site owner(s) giving permission to place IEEE milestone plaque on the property:

A letter or email from the appropriate Section Chair supporting the Milestone application:

What is the historical significance of the work (its technological, scientific, or social importance)?

It was the first AC electric power system in Croatia and one of first multiphase AC systems in the world. Two generators (42 Hz, 550 kW each) and the transformers were produced by the Hungarian company Ganz. The transmission line from the power plant to the City of Šibenik was 11.5 kilometres long and the municipal distribution grid 3000/110V included six transforming stations. The system Supplied 340 street lights and some electrified houses in the town. Three years later after the first Jaruga power plant, the construction of the second Jaruga hydro plant began. Two three phase, 50 Hz, 5.5 MW generators were installed. A new transmission system was built and local grid enlarged. The historical and social significance of the proposed milestone were presented at the 2007 History of Electro technology Conference in Newark, NJ.

What obstacles (technical, political, geographic) needed to be overcome?

At the time when Krka - Šibenik was built there was no transmission system for larger distance, Krka-Šibenik was one of first integrated systems. It was a two-phase system in time when major cities like London and Roma had one-phase systems. At the time multiphase systems were considered less secure. With time other cities also adopted multiphase systems, this is kept up until today.

What features set this work apart from similar achievements?

Ganz & Co had previously built an alternator in Rome Tivoli (A1) - a single-phase generator which remained in operation for a limited time. The Power Plant Jaruga 1 (in the Krka-Šibenik system) held Ganz's first multi-phase generator (A2). Furthermore, the Krka-Šibenik system was unique in many ways. Several Zipernowsky, Bláthy and Déri (who, at the time, all worked for Ganz) inventions were first used in Šibenik: ZBD transformers, Blathy watt-meters, etc. The transmission line was also quite interesting. Built on wooden poles it had 6 wires: 4 power conductors (double two-phase line) and a communication (telephone) line. As the power system was set to operation on the night of 28 August 1895, the telephone line (on the transmission poles) was used for communication between the

References to establish the dates, location, and importance of the achievement: Minimum of five (5), but as many as needed to support the milestone, such as patents, contemporary newspaper articles, journal articles, or citations to pages in scholarly books. At least one of the references must be from a scholarly book or journal article.

Supporting materials (supported formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, DOC): All supporting materials must be in English, or if not in English, accompanied by an English translation. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. For documents that are copyright-encumbered, or which you do not have rights to post, email the documents themselves to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please see the Milestone Program Guidelines for more information.