Interconnector Watch — Saturday 2 May 2026

NEM-wide interconnectors at 06:35 AEST show two binding links shaping this morning's price landscape. VIC1-NSW1 (Heywood's northern counterpart, the VIC-NSW interconnector) is pinned at its export limit of 1,061 MW flowing north from Victoria into New South Wales — it is at its binding ceiling, with Victoria sitting at -$2.29/MWh against NSW's $56.06/MWh. That $58/MWh spread is a direct consequence of the constraint: surplus Victorian generation cannot clear further northward, depressing VIC prices while NSW remains isolated from the cheapest available supply. Murraylink (V-S-MNSP1) is simultaneously binding at -163 MW, flowing from South Australia into Victoria, and with SA also at -$2.18/MWh the two southern regions are effectively price-coupled in negative territory this morning.

QNI (NSW1-QLD1) is carrying 642 MW southward from Queensland into NSW — flowing at 68% of its import limit (-940 MW) and not binding in the current dispatch interval. However, an active AEMO market notice confirms QNI remains under constraint set I-QN_550, invoked 29 April following the outage of the Armidale–Sapphire 8E 330 kV line. That outage was scheduled to clear by 17:00 yesterday; traders should confirm with AEMO's Network Outage Scheduler whether the restriction has fully lifted, as the notice status remains active in this data. QLD prices at $50.07/MWh and NSW at $56.06/MWh show a modest northward premium in NSW consistent with reduced northbound capacity headroom.

Basslink (T-V-MNSP1) is flowing 211 MW from Tasmania into Victoria, sitting at 59% of its import limit and not binding. With TAS at $84.62/MWh — the highest mainland-connected price on the NEM right now — the flow direction appears counterintuitive at first glance, but Basslink's MNSP scheduling reflects contracted positions and losses rather than simple spot arbitrage. The V-SA (Heywood) interconnector carries 152 MW westward into SA at just 29% of its import capacity and is not binding, providing SA with a modest supply cushion despite negative prices. The combined picture today is one of southern oversupply pressing VIC and SA into negative price territory, with the binding VIC-NSW link acting as the primary bottleneck preventing full price equalisation between the surplus south and the higher-priced northern regions.