Interconnector Watch: Wednesday 15 April 2026

VIC1-NSW1 (Heywood's northern counterpart, the main Victoria–NSW link) is the sole binding interconnector on the NEM right now, flowing 903.64 MW northward from Victoria into NSW against an export limit of 877.14 MW — it is operating fractionally beyond its stated export limit, confirming the binding status. This constraint is the dominant price-shaping force this interval: Victoria clears at just $11.00/MWh while NSW sits at $97.67/MWh, an $86.67/MWh spread that the constrained link cannot arbitrage away. The inability to push further volume north is preserving that gap and effectively capping the value available to Victorian generators seeking to export.

Heywood (V-SA) is carrying 380.89 MW westward from Victoria into South Australia against an export limit of 496.87 MW, representing approximately 77% utilisation — not binding, but meaningfully loaded. SA clears at $11.91/MWh, tightly coupled to Victoria's $11.00/MWh, which is consistent with Heywood running well-loaded and passing through Victoria's low pricing. Murraylink (V-S-MNSP1) adds a small 6 MW westward flow into SA, operating at its export limit but at negligible volume. QNI (NSW1-QLD1) is carrying 85 MW northward into Queensland, utilising 45% of its export capacity. Despite this flow, Queensland prices at $233.01/MWh remain sharply elevated against NSW's $97.67/MWh — the $135.34/MWh spread signals that QNI is insufficient to resolve Queensland's tightness, and any further northward headroom is constrained by the 188.56 MW import limit. Basslink (T-V-MNSP1) is exporting 125 MW from Tasmania into Victoria at its export limit, with TAS priced at $88.20/MWh against Victoria's $11.00/MWh — a $77.20/MWh differential consistent with Basslink running at its current ceiling. N-Q-MNSP1 (Directlink) carries a negligible 8.14 MW northward into Queensland and is non-binding.

The key constraint notice of relevance today is the earlier NRM_QLD1_NSW1 negative settlement residue event on QNI (active 13 April, subsequently cancelled at 16:15 that day). No negative residue constraints are active on QNI or VIC1-NSW1 at this interval. The Tasmanian lightning-related contingency events involving Basslink-adjacent constraint sets (F-T-JB_MC_TI_N-2, T-JB_MC_TI_250) were revoked on 13 April following restoration of the Farrell–Tribute, Farrell–John Butters, and Farrell–Mackintosh lines, leaving Basslink operating without those additional N-2 restrictions today.

In summary, the binding VIC1-NSW1 constraint is the primary market-shaping event this interval, sustaining a near-$87/MWh price wedge between Victoria and NSW. Queensland's elevated price at $233.01/MWh reflects residual tightness that QNI's partial utilisation cannot resolve. Victoria's low clearing price propagates efficiently into SA via a well-utilised Heywood. Traders holding SRA auction rights on VIC1-NSW