A few years ago, a mini hydropower plant was built on the Moravica River in Ivanjica next to the existing old plant, and it will finally be put into operation by the end of December.
In this way, the municipality of Ivanjica will get a modern energy source that will contribute to a safer and better quality of supply, but the commissioning of the new hydropower plant will create the conditions for the old plant to become a museum open to visitors.
The small hydropower plant, in the centre of Ivanjica, began operating in 1911 and is considered one of the oldest in Serbia.
The electricity produced in this hydropower plant was used to illuminate private houses, streets, and shops, and the hydropower plant in Ivanjica was built thanks to the vision and hard work of 11 merchants and contractors.
Got electricity 20 years after New York
-Electricity was introduced to the small town with 1,100 inhabitants only about twenty years after New York and 18 years after Belgrade, and before many large cities. The Ivanjica hydropower plant is still in use today, and the fact that it has not suffered any malfunctions or accidents, nor has there been a need for any significant investments, apart from the most necessary annual maintenance and overhaul carried out in 1987, speaks to how well it was made. Now the hydropower plant annually produces as much electricity as Ivanjica needs for two days – they say for RINA from the Tourist Organization of Ivanjica.
Equipment from Vienna travelled to Ivanjica on ox carts for seven days
The small Hydropower Plant on the Moravica was built for four years. The plant building was a ground floor, and two floors were later added to it. A turbine with a power of 205 hp was installed in it, which powered a generator manufactured by the company “Siemens,” and its transport to the small Serbian town was extremely complicated.
-The equipment arrived from Vienna by train to Kragujevac, and then it was loaded onto ox carts and travelled for seven days to Ivanjica. When the turbine arrived, it was a big holiday for all the residents of Ivanjica, and many of them wanted to see this wonder. They came and visited the construction works, and the day the first light bulbs shone will forever remain written in red letters in the history of Ivanjica, because everyone is proud that their place was one of the first five in Serbia to get electricity. Later, the richer ones began to introduce electricity into their houses, and lampposts with light bulbs were installed through the centre – they say at the TO Ivanjica.
The building of the old hydropower plant was reconstructed a few years ago, the roof structure was completely changed, and as part of the Old Town Centre (Stara čaršija), it was declared an immovable cultural property of great importance. In its vicinity are a park, an accumulation lake, and a waterfall, which is a kind of symbol of the municipality of Ivanjica.
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Source: RINA; Photo: RINA