The King River Power Development, along with the Anthony Power Development, was commenced in 1983 following the halting of work on the Gordon-below-Franklin scheme.
The development consists of two dams, the Crotty Dam, an 82 metre high concrete-faced rockfill structure on the King River, and the Darwin Dam, a saddle dam made from low permeability alluvial gravels. These created the 54 square kilometre water storage, Lake Burbury, east of Queenstown.
Water from Lake Burbury falls 200 metres on its seven kilometre journey through a tunnel under Mt Jukes to the John Butters Power Station, south of Queenstown.
The power station, on the banks of the King River, is named after Hydro Tasmania's first General Manager and Chief Engineer. It has a single, 143 MW Francis turbine and produces over five percent of Tasmania's power.
The King River Power Development has a number of unique and interesting engineering features. These include the spillway on the downstream face of the Crotty Dam, a world first for a dam of its size and type, and the giant jet-flow dewatering outlet in the nearby diversion tunnel. The outlet is designed to discharge floodwaters in conjunction with the Crotty Dam spillway and lower the lake in the event of an emergency.
Crotty Dam on Lake Burbury