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Centuries-old heritage and pride of Elektroprivreda
Srbije, small hydro power plants Vučje and Jelašnica are in operation again
after refurbishment. These witnesses of the time, historical monuments, but
also indicators of knowledge, expertise and vision of the pioneers in
electrification of Serbia, have experienced a kind of new juvenescence. The rehabilitation
of these two small hydro power plants has been completed, and EPS has invested
about three million euros in this work.
- The equipment in both SHPPs has been completely
replaced, the hydromechanical equipment, supply equipment, canals and pipelines
have been reconstructed - says Dragan Jović, Director of Energy Production in
the Renewable Energy Sources branch. – With this modernization, we have
extended the life cycle of SHPPs Vučje and Jelašnica by at least another 30
years.
Small hydro power plants of Elektroprivreda
Srbije, built between 1900 and 1940, are today the guardians of the technical
heritage of our people. Bearing in mind the time and circumstances under which
they were built, they represent a thread that connects us with the difficult
beginnings of the electrification of Serbia, but they also remind us of the
great task of the electric power industry - a constant and continuous effort to
keep up with the world. EPS is still on that path today.
The SHPP Vučje started its operation on December 24,
1903, and it was built upon the initiative of Djordje
Stanojević, the initiator of
electrification in Serbia and enterprising industrialists from Leskovac. At the
beginning of its work, about 700 households got electricity, and 400 street
lamps were installed on the streets of Leskovac. Electricity from the HPP Vučje
was also provided to a dozen craft workshops, braiders, hemp workshops, factories
of rope, who established the development of the textile industry and Leskovac-style
"Manchester". It is interesting that in just two years, a supply channel of about 1,000 meters long was
built, which completely blended into the wooded
landscapes and cliffs of the river canyon, a dam, a power plant building and a
"turbine building". Turbines and generators of the most famous
manufacturers of that time were installed. A 17-kilometer-long overhead transmission
line to Leskovac was constructred, the first in Serbia, and this indicated the beginning of the transmission system in Serbia.
By the 2023 Decision of the Serbian Government, the HPP
Vučje was declared a cultural monument that ranks among the significant
achievements of technical culture due to its unique engineering solution,
technical values, preserved original hydromechanical and mechanical assemblies,
as well as its historical contribution to the modernization processes in
Serbia.
In 2005, the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) included the HPP Vučje
in the Milestone List, which consists of inventions, facilities and
achievements of general importance for development and history of electrical
engineering in the world. Thus,
the power plant Vučje has become a part of the world's technical heritage.
In three
years, the SHPP Jelašnica
will celebrate 100 years since its construction. It was built on the Jelašnica
River, about 4.5 kilometers far from Vladičin Han. The power plant was built by
the Joint Stock Electric Company from Vranje. The building of the mechanical
plant is located in the place where the largest rock mass was and which was
removed for the needs of the building. Turbines and generators were produced in
1922 and were obtained as war reparation. At the beginning of the power plant's
operation, there were very few consumers. Almost three fifths of the
electricity generated remained unused. That is why electrical installations in
the houses of poorer citizens were installed free of charge.
