In 1921 – over fierce Arab-Palestinian protests against giving the Yishuv an economic stranglehold of the country – the British granted Rutenberg the Jaffa and (later) the Jordan River electricity concessions. The Jaffa concession had been the first to have been executed. Operating under the name of the Jaffa Electric Company, Rutenberg in 1923 built a grid that gradually covered Jaffa, Tel Aviv, neighbouring (mainly Jewish) settlements, and the British military installations in Sarafend. The grid was powered by diesel engines, in contrast to the original commitment of Rutenberg to build a hydro-electric power station on the Auja (Yarkon) river.