Feasibility studies for the dam were carried out between May 1967 to May 1969 and designs between September 1970 to December 1977. Initial construction on the dam began in 1974 and it was complete in 1980.[1] The first of the dam's generators was commissioned in 1980 and the last by 1991.[2] The original cost of the dam was estimated to be $45 million but because the dam was constructed on a fault line, the dam's foundation had to be reinforced which raised the cost to $114 million.