Construction of the dam began in January 1987, and was completed on schedule in April 1990.

[1] The Rantembe Dam, located just 2.8 km (1.7 mi) downstream of the Randenigala Dam, measures 42 m (138 ft) in height, 420 m (1,378 ft) in length, and consists of 4 tainter gate spillways with a combined discharge capacity of 10,235 m3/s (361,446 cu ft/s).

The dam creates the relatively small Rantembe Reservoir, which has a catchment area of 3,118 km2 (1,204 sq mi), and a total capacity of 21,000,000 m3 (740,000,000 cu ft).

Water from the reservoir is channelled through the dam through a steel penstock to power the two 26-megawatt turbines.

The power station's combined output of 52-megawatts generates 180 GWh annually.