The Cat Arm Generating Station is located on the Great Northern Peninsula

Great Northern Peninsula

The Great Northern Peninsula is the largest and longest peninsula of the island of Newfoundland, Canada, approximately 225 km long and 80 km wide at its widest point and encompassing an area of 17,483 km²...

 of Newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...

 and makes use of 380.5 m of head between the reservoir and White Bay

White Bay (Newfoundland)

White Bay is a large bay in Newfoundland, Canada....

. Each of the two units operates with an average rated flow of 20 m3/s to generate a total 127 MW of electrical power with an average annual production of 733 GWh. The two 63.5 MW units, equipped with pelton turbines

Pelton wheel

The Pelton wheel is an impulse turbine which is among the most efficient types of water turbines. It was invented by Lester Allan Pelton in the 1870s. The Pelton wheel extracts energy from the impulse of moving water, as opposed to its weight like traditional overshot water wheel...

, were first synchronized on February 10 and 12, 1985.

The watershed of the Cat Arm River was located on a plateau with an average elevation of approximately 518 m on the raised uplands of the Long Range Mountains

Long Range Mountains

The Long Range Mountains are a series of mountains along the west coast of the Canadian island of Newfoundland. They also form the northernmost section of the Appalachian chain on the eastern seaboard of North America...

.