About Mooserboden Dam

The Mooserboden Reservoir sits at a breathtaking 2,036 metres above sea level in the Hohe Tauern near Kaprun, Salzburg. Completed in 1955 — four years after the Limberg dam below it — the 107-metre arch dam stores 85 million cubic metres and forms the upper stage of VERBUND's world-famous Kaprun pumped-storage system. Water flows from Mooserboden down to Limberg and then to the valley powerhouse, enabling three-stage electricity generation. During periods of surplus electricity — particularly at night — pumps reverse the flow, lifting water back to Mooserboden to store energy for peak demand. The reservoir is flanked by the Hohe Tauern's jagged ridgeline; the Kitzsteinhorn glacier, visible from the dam, feeds snowmelt into both basins. The Kaprun hydroelectric scheme, including Mooserboden and Limberg, was constructed largely by Austrian forced labourers and prisoners of war between 1938 and 1955, a complex history that the Kaprun Documentation Centre commemorates.