Ante Šupuk (21 August 1838 – 11 May 1904) was a Croatian politician and entrepreneur who served as a mayor of

Šibenik Šibenik (), historically known as Sebenico (), is a historic town in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka (Croatia), Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is one of the oldest Croatia, Croatian self-governing cities ...

. In 1895 he built the

Jaruga Hydroelectric Power Plant The Jaruga Hydroelectric Power Plant is a hydroelectric power plant near Skradinski Buk waterfall on the Krka (Adriatic Sea), Krka River in central Dalmatia, Croatia. It is located within the Krka National Park. Built in 1895, the Krka–Šibenik ...

as one of the world's first

hydroelectric power plant Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

s, and connected it to a lighting system using

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current that periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time, in contrast to direct current (DC), which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in w ...

. It was the first of its kind in

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

and

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. Ante Šupuk was a generally influential mayor of Šibenik, the first Croat mayor to be elected under universal suffrage in 1872. He held the office in three periods: 1873–1882, 1886–1892, and 1896–1903. During his tenure, the city built a number of features: a railroad connection (1877), waterworks (1879), a sewer system, and a new harbor, a new hospital building (1883). In 1893, Šupuk and one Vjekoslav Meichsner started a business and obtained a license to use the waters of river Krka, and in 1894 they obtained permission to set up electrical power lines on municipal property in order to start lighting the streets with electric power. The construction of the

started in 1894 and lasted for 16 months. It had a two-phase generator that produced 0.6 MW of electric power. It was connected to the city with an long 3 kV power line, where it was transformed to 110 V. On August 28, 1895, the first electric

street light A street light, light pole, lamp pole, lamppost, streetlamp, light standard, or lamp standard is a raised source of light on the edge of a road or path. Similar lights may be found on a railway platform. When urban electric power distribution b ...

s lit up in Šibenik. This achievement made Šibenik the third city in the world with

-powered street lights. In 1904, Šupuk's company built a new power plant, Jaruga II, still operational today.

References

Politicians from Austria-Hungary Businesspeople from Austria-Hungary Croatian politicians Croatian businesspeople 1838 births 1904 deaths People from Šibenik {{Croatia-bio-stub