Bengaluru began using electricity for street lighting, with power supplied by the hydroelectric project at Shivanasamudra. The project generated electricity using the flow of the Cauvery river. The Shivanasamudra hydroelectric project was developed primarily to supply electricity to the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), then one of India’s major gold-mining centres. The mines needed electricity to operate machinery and other equipment.The project began supplying electricity to KGF in 1902, making it one of the early major hydroelectric power projects in India. KGF was located a considerable distance from Shivanasamudra, requiring electricity to be transmitted over a long distance. The project became an early example of electricity being generated at one location and transmitted to an industrial centre elsewhere. The electricity helped power mining operations at KGF, where machinery was increasingly being used in the extraction and processing of gold. The development of the hydroelectric station also created the infrastructure that eventually enabled Bengaluru to receive electricity.Bengaluru’s streets go electricBengaluru, then known as Bangalore, was administered under the princely state of Mysore. The Mysore administration later decided to use electricity from Shivanasamudra for public lighting in the city. On August 5, 1905, electric streetlights were switched on in Bengaluru. Areas around KR Market were among the first parts of the city to receive electric lighting.The new electric lights replaced kerosene lamps that had previously been used to illuminate Bengaluru’s streets. Before electrification, street lamps had to be manually lit and maintained. Electricity allowed public lighting to be supplied through a central power network.Homes began getting connectionsThe introduction of electricity was not limited to street lighting. The city’s electricity network gradually expanded to domestic consumers and other users. Historical accounts state that Bengaluru had more than 1,600 domestic electricity connections within a year of the introduction of electric lighting. The development marked an early stage in the expansion of electricity infrastructure in Bengaluru.One project, two major usersThe Shivanasamudra project had a direct connection with both KGF and Bengaluru. It was originally developed to provide electricity to the gold mines, but surplus power was later supplied to the city. The project therefore linked two very different uses of electricity — industrial mining at KGF and public and domestic consumption in Bengaluru.The transmission of electricity from Shivanasamudra to KGF was also an important development in India’s early power history, as it demonstrated the use of long-distance electricity transmission.Before Bengaluru became a tech hubThe introduction of electric street lighting came more than a century before Bengaluru became known as India’s technology and startup hub. In 1905, the city’s electricity infrastructure was still in its early stages, with public lighting among its first major uses.The source of that electricity was a hydroelectric project developed for the Kolar Gold Fields. Shivanasamudra’s power therefore played an early role in the electrification of both KGF and Bengaluru. Bengaluru’s first electric streetlights were thus part of a much larger development in Karnataka’s early electricity network — one that began with the need to power the state’s gold mines.
