Geehi Dam









Geehi Dam is a major ungated rockfill embankment dam across the Geehi River in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. The reservoir impounded by the dam is known as Geehi Reservoir.

Geehi DamThe structure was completed by Thiess Brothers in 1966, and is one of the sixteen major dams that comprise the Snowy Mountains Scheme, a vast hydroelectricity and irrigation complex constructed in south-east Australia between 1949 and 1974 that is now run by Snowy Hydro.

The dam is located within what is now the Snowy Valleys local government area. It was constructed by Thiess Bros based on engineering plans developed under contract by the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Authority.

The dam wall, comprising 1,421,000 cubic metres (50,200,000 cu ft) of rockfill with an earth core, is 91 metres (299 ft) high and 265 metres (869 ft) long. At 100% capacity the dam wall holds back 21,093 megalitres (744.9×106 cu ft) of water. The surface area of Geehi Reservoir is 700 hectares (1,700 acres) and the catchment area is 149 square kilometres (58 sq mi). The uncontrolled bell-mouth spillway has a diameter of 32 metres (105 ft) and is capable of discharging up to 1,534 cubic metres per second (54,200 cu ft/s).

Water from Geehi Reservoir and Island Bend Pondage is carried via the Snowy-Geehi tunnel to the Murray 1 power station, which is rated for a hydraulic head of 460.2 metres (1,510 ft) and has a total generating capacity of 950 megawatts (1,270,000 hp) (a net generation of 1,413 gigawatt-hours (5,090 TJ) per annum). More details