After the Harza Engineering Company of USA designed the dam, construction began in 1956. The reservoir began to fill in November 1961 and the dam was complete that same year. After the reservoir filled, several problems occurred. In 1967, there was a major slope failure about upstream of the dam. This and other slope failures are continually under repair. The bedrock beneath the dam has to be re-grouted and the crest of the dam settled too much, required it to be repaired. The rip-rap on the upstream face of the dam was also repaired in 1999 and 2000. Between 1983 and 1985 the dam's power station was replaced by German and Japanese companies. The original 2 × 800 kW generators were replaced with the current power plant's 83 MW generators. The generators were commissioned in 1990 after the political situation in the country calmed. However, two of the generators were not commissioned correctly and the turbines suffered from severe cavitation. New spillwaygates were installed between 1989 and 1990 after they were removed in 1988 because of the Iran–Iraq War. During the war, the spillway and substation were damaged from bombing. The power station was damaged from bombing in 1990 as well. In 2007, the World Bank began a US$35.36 million project to repair the Darbandikhan and Dokan Dams. Repairs to the Darbandikhan Dam cost $18.85 million and were completed in 2013 resulting in 100 percent power availability.
Design and operation
The dam is located within a gorge on a foundation of sedimentary rocks. It is a rock-fill embankment type with a central clay core. The dam is tall and long. Its crest is wide and at an elevation of. The structural volume of the dam including rock, clay and filters is. The dam collects water from a catchment area that covers. Its reservoir, by design, has a storage capacity of. Of that capacity, is active storage while is dead storage. At a normal elevation of, the reservoir covers an area of. To protect the dam from flooding, it is equipped with a controlled chute spillway on its right bank. It is controlled by three x 15 m tainter gates. At the terminus of each chute there is a ski-jump to help dissipate energy. The maximum discharge capacity of the spillway is. The dam's power plant is located at its toe and contains 3 x 83 MW Francis turbine-generators. They are each afforded a rated hydraulic head of and can each discharge. Above the tail-race for each turbine is an irrigation outlet. Each of the three outlets can discharge up to downstream.
