Constructed in succession between 1948 and 1979, the dams support the Paulo Afonso I, II, III, IV and Apollonius Sales (Moxotó) power plants which contain a total of 23 generators with an installed capacity of 4,279.6 megawatts (5,739,000 hp).

By the 1940s Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture recognized the importance of harnessing the São Francisco River for economic development in the semi-arid region.

They began to plan the river's development and the Companhia Hidro-Elétrica do São Francisco (CHESF) was formed in 1945.

Construction began in 1948; workers and engineers experienced difficulty diverting the river, transporting the turbines to the site while in midst of dangerous work conditions.

[8] In 1971, construction had moved to the Apollonius Sales (Moxotó) Dam and power plant 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) upstream from the falls.

[9] In 1972, construction began on the final dam and power plant, PA IV, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) southwest of the falls.

The dam and its reservoir are primarily intended to regulate water flow to PA I, II and III 4 km downstream.

On the dam's west side, it supports a 20 floodgate spillway with a 28,000 cubic metres per second (990,000 cu ft/s) capacity.

The power plant is located on the east side of the dam near the reservoir's shore and contains four generators, each with Kaplan turbines.

The reservoir formed by the dam has a 26,000,000 cubic metres (21,000 acre⋅ft) capacity and surface area of 4.8 square kilometres (1.9 sq mi).

The dam is an earth and rock-fill type but is 1,053 metres (3,455 ft) in length of concrete structures which include the power plant's intake and the spillway.