Successful and Unsuccessful Choices at the Beginning of the Balkan Electrification: The Cases of Bulgaria and Serbia

Abstract

For a long timr, electrification has remained one of the main criteria for the modernization of life and living environment of large groups of the population in almost every part of the world. The Balkan countries are among the first to join this process and their experience is important for understanding it as a whole. This text is an attempt to compare the first private initiatives for the construction of power plants in Bulgaria and Serbia at the end of XIX and the beginning of XX century. An emphasis is placed on the the entrepreneurs engaged in the implementation of the respective endeavors. The main goal is to shed some light on the “personality” factor as an important element of the modernization process. Apart from this, the research emphasizes the importance of concrete solutions for the successful realization of such complex industrial endeavors.