The power station is situated on the Lower River Derwent catchment and is owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.

Water from the Derwent below the Tarraleah and Tungatinah Power Station is diverted through a 6.6-kilometre (4.1 mi) concrete lined tunnel.

During high inflow events the pond level can threaten the Tarraleah Power Station upstream.

[citation needed] Within the station building, each turbine has a fully embedded spiral casing and water flow is controlled by a spherical rotary main inlet valve and a turbine relief valve designed to prevent spiral casing overpressure.

The station output, estimated to be 440 gigawatt-hours (1,600 TJ) annually,[1] is fed to TasNetworks' transmission grid via three banks of 11 kV/220 kV three-phase English Electric generator transformers to the outdoor switchyard.