The Koombooloomba Dam is a concrete gravity dam with a controlled spillway across the Tully River, located west of and south, southeast of in Far North Queensland, Australia. Built for the purpose of hydroelectric power generation, the dam creates the reservoir, Lake Koombooloomba.

Location and features

The dam was constructed by the Queensland Government Co-ordinator-General's Department in 1960. The 790 e3m3 earth rock embankment dam wall is 399 m in length and 40 m high. The reservoir has a catchment area of 163 km2 with a controlled concrete spillway that releases up to 1240 m3/s. The reservoir has a surface area of 1550 ha with an average depth of 12.9 m, and has a maximum operating level of 186750 ML of water. The dam and power generation facilities are owned and operated by CleanCo Queensland.

Hydroelectric power facilities

Built in 1957 and most recently upgraded in 2008, the underground Kareeya Hydro Power Station was the first hydroelectric power station constructed on the Tully River. An intake tower is located in the Tully Falls Weira regulating pond for the power stationwhich directs water down a tunnel to the turbines below Tully Falls. Kareeya has a capacity of 86.4 MW and generates up to 472 GWh annually. The Koombooloomba Hydro Power Station is a dam release point situated on Koombooloomba Dam. The power station was commissioned in 1999 and has one turbo generator with a capacity of 7.3 MW that generates up to 22.5 GWh. Its location on Koombooloomba Dam in the UNESCO World Heritagelisted Wet Tropics area finally put into use infrastructure established when the dam was constructed in 1960.