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HEP's Miljacka Hydropower Plant wins a prestigious Hall of Fame Award

HEP's Miljacka Hydropower Plant wins a prestigious Hall of Fame Award

27.06.2018.
As part of the world's largest hydropower conference, Hydro Vision International, organized by PennWell's Hydro Group in Charlotte, USA, Miljacka Hydropower Plant operated by HEP was awarded yesterday a prestigious Hydro Hall of Fame Award among more than a hundred energy facilities worldwide.

The Hydro Hall of Fame project aims at recognizing outstanding achievements in hydro industry. It has been selecting every year since 1995 one hydropower plant which has been in operation for more than a hundred years and which, in light of its characteristics, represents important and unique energy, industrial and cultural heritage.

​Miljacka, located within the Krka National Park, is the largest hydropower plant on the Krka river and one of the oldest still operational hydropower plants in the world since 1906. In its early years, it was one of the largest hydropower plants in Europe (it was ranked first in Europe by its capacity until 1910) and a specific technological miracle. At that time, it was the only hydropower plant in Europe which generators were directly connected to live 30,000 V power lines without transformers, which is impressive even by modern technological standards. Due to its specific location, the entire plant was built by hand, while the electomechanical components were supplied by Ganz Factory in Budapest. Particularly fascinating is the fact that even its 1,620 m long gravity tunnel, used for supplying water from the Brljan Lake to the plant, was dug by hand.

Miljacka Hydropower Plant had a direct impact on the industrialization of the town of Šibenik and that part of Croatia. The experience gained from the erection of Miljacka was invaluable for the development of electric power industry in Europe. Numerous other European hydropower plants were built on its principles. Miljacka with its four 24 MW units in total currently produces 80 GWh of electricity a year.