The initial idea was to build a mill on the site of today’s hydroelectric power plant, and then to use the power of Cetinje to drive textile machines, and finally, in 1900, a hydroelectric power plant was built to drive textile machines. Djordje Stanojevic, a professor at the Great School, is responsible for the transformation of the mill into a hydroelectric power plant. After the explanation of the proposal to the management and supervisory board of the Weaving Workshop, the proposal was adopted and a competition for the project was announced. From the received projects, the project of engineer Acim Stevovic was adopted, and Josif Granzan, an entrepreneur from Nis, was chosen as the contractor. The cornerstone was laid by His Majesty King Alexander I.
Professor Stanojevic traveled to Pest, then to Vienna, to arrange the delivery of equipment. A contract was signed with Siemens and Halske for two “Francis system” turbines, 50 hp with horizontal shaft and built-in regulator for water supply to turbines and two steel pipes for directing water from the channel into the turbines and two generators from Osterreihshe Siemens-Werke for production of three-phase current, switchboards with instruments for voltage control and regulation.
The entire equipment arrived in February 1900, with a considerable delay due to difficulties with transport: it was brought to Kragujevac by rail, and further by Rabadzija cars with solid wood wheels, the so-called vrndoljima, which was pulled by 12 pairs of oxen. Despite the delay in the equipment, the power plant was put into operation on August 2, 1900, on the king’s birthday and the electrician’s glory – St. Ilija the Thunderer. And so, from the adoption of the idea to the commissioning, a little more than two years have passed.

Only a year after the construction and commissioning, the machines in the plant were loaded, especially during the holidays, so in 1903 a spare turbine and dynamo machine were purchased.
The hydroelectric power plant “Pod gradom” worked continuously until the construction of the Belgrade-Bar railway, when a larger amount of stone and earth filled the gap. Due to the new backfill during the widening of the main road to Zlatibor, the operation of the hydroelectric power plant was interrupted in 1973. In 1977, the building of the hydroelectric power plant and its immediate surroundings were declared a cultural asset of great importance.
The first reconstruction of the hydroelectric power plant was done in 1990: the gap was cleaned, the roof was reconstructed and semi-automatic equipment was installed for easier management.
One hundred years after its commissioning, the power plant has been completely renovated. In the foreground was the revitalization of the hydroelectric building for tourist purposes: the project, done by architect Katarina Stefanovic, included the construction of a banquet hall on the first floor of the hydroelectric power plant, a summer terrace and a room for technical service and guards, and a summer stage. The plant has also been restored – only the original control panel with the Cyrillic logo “СИМЕНС и ХАЛСКЕ” is missing.

Shortly after the construction of the first hydroelectric power plant, it turned out that this hydroelectric power plant could not produce enough electricity for the textile factory and the city, so another one was built in Veliki Park. Unfortunately, this hydroelectric power plant was demolished in 1975 during the construction of the road from Požega to Zlatibor, for the needs of the company Prvi partizan.
The third hydroelectric power plant in Užice was built in 1929, not far from the first, from the war reparations from the First World War. This power plant, officially called HE III, has been shut down only briefly since the 1999 bombing.