The governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia (republics within Yugoslavia at the time) worked together on a project to build a hydroelectric power plant in Ruda (municipality of Otok in Croatia) called Orlovac that would have an output of 237 MW and an average annual yield of 366 GWh.
It was first mentioned in a 894 deed as Maria Werd — as the site had then been an island, the Old High German term Wörth or Werder like Slovene Otok denotes a piece of land surrounded by water.
The founder and main benefactor of the present structure was Count Aleksander Zaleski from Otok, Dołęga coat of arms.