Interconnector Watch: Sunday 3 May 2026

NEM-wide interconnectors are carrying significant cross-regional flows at 06:35 AEST, with two links running at their export limits and a notable price split between the southern and northern regions. VIC-NSW (VIC1-NSW1) is binding at its export limit of 1,138 MW, pushing power north from Victoria — where the spot price sits at -$2.04/MWh — into NSW at $56.06/MWh. That $58/MWh spread confirms the interconnector is fully saturating its transfer capability and is the primary mechanism transmitting surplus southern generation into the higher-priced NSW market. Murraylink (V-S-MNSP1) is also binding, locked at -153 MW in both its import and export limits, flowing from SA toward VIC. SA's price mirrors Victoria at -$2.00/MWh, consistent with the two regions effectively price-coupled through this constraint.

QNI (NSW1-QLD1) is carrying 601 MW southbound — from QLD into NSW — at roughly 52% of its import limit of 1,145 MW, so it is not binding. However, an active market notice from AEMO (issued 29 April, constraint set I-QN_550) flags that QNI remains restricted due to the Armidale–Sapphire 8E 330 kV line outage. That restriction was scheduled to lift by 1700 hrs on 2 May; traders should confirm with AEMO's Network Outage Scheduler whether the constraint set has since been released, as the notice remains marked active in the data. The QLD-NSW price spread of $50.61 versus $56.06/MWh is narrow enough that QNI flows are not being driven by a sharp arbitrage signal — the southbound flow likely reflects Queensland's generation surplus relative to demand of 5,729 MW.

Basslink (T-V-MNSP1) flows 141 MW from Tasmania toward Victoria, sitting at 38% of its import limit of 374 MW with room to spare. Tasmania's price of $84.19/MWh is the highest in the NEM today, well above Victoria's -$2.04/MWh, which is counterintuitive for a flow moving power out of the high-priced region; this reflects Basslink's MNSP merchant structure and prevailing dispatch scheduling rather than a simple price-arbitrage direction. Heywood (V-SA) is carrying a modest 31 MW from SA toward Victoria and is well within limits, consistent with the two regions being near price parity. No loss figures are available in the current dataset. The dominant market dynamic this interval is the binding VIC-NSW link, which is capping how much Victorian surplus can reach NSW and sustaining the $58/MWh price differential between those two regions.