The Ivaylovgrad Dam is located in the eastern Rhodope Mountains

Rhodope Mountains

The Rhodopes are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, with over 83% of its area in southern Bulgaria and the remainder in Greece. Its highest peak, Golyam Perelik , is the seventh highest Bulgarian mountain...

 and is situated on the Arda river, Southern Bulgaria. There are another two large dams of the Arda upstream - Kardzhali Dam

Kardzhali Dam

The Kardzhali Reservoir is located near Kardzhali town in Kardzhali Province, Bulgaria.The reservoir was recently seeded artificially with European perch. The fish was taken from the Ovcharitsa reservoir....

 and Studen Kladenets Dam to the west of Ivaylovgrad Dam.

The reservoir has a total volume of 157000000 cubic metre and a drainage basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 of 5128 km² (1,979.9 sq mi). It is situated at an average 120 m above sea level, its dam being 250 m (820.2 ft) long and 73 m (239.5 ft) high. The top of the dam consists of six spillways, totaling 83.5 m (274 ft) m in length.

Ivaylovgrad Reservoir is an attractive place for tourists and fishermen

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

, where rudd

Rudd

The common rudd Scardinius erythropthalmus is a bentho-pelagic freshwater fish, widely spread in Europe and middle Asia, around the basins of the North, Baltic, Black, Caspian and Aral seas.-Artificially introduced:...

 is caught in great numbers.

Hydroelectric generation

Arda Hydro Power Cascade consist of three large hydro power sites, mainly used for electricity generation, with a total installed capacity of 331 MW and a total annual output of over 520 GWh/y. Ivaylovgrad hydroelectric power plant (HPP) is the last stage of the Arda cascade. The initial plans for the construction of a dam on the Arda date to as early as 1948. Construction began in 1959 and was completed in 1964, with the HPP starting production the same year. "Ivaylovgrad" Hydroelectric Power Plant is built-in inside the dam. The HPP has four Francis-type turbines

Francis turbine

The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine that was developed by James B. Francis in Lowell, Massachusetts. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts....

, 26 MW each with a mean annual generation of 195 GWh/y.