Interconnector Watch: Wednesday 27 May 2026

At 07:30 AEST, the Queensland-New South Wales Interconnector (QNI) is the only binding constraint on the NEM, carrying 300.62 MW northward from NSW into QLD — precisely at its import limit of 300.61 MW. With QLD sitting at $132.83/MWh and NSW at $138.94/MWh, the $6.11/MWh spread reflects QLD drawing on cheaper NSW energy up to the physical ceiling. The binding constraint is suppressing QLD prices relative to NSW; without the limit, the spread would likely compress further. The export limit in the NSW-to-QLD direction sits at only 119.18 MW, meaning any reversal of flow would be tightly capped.

On the Victoria-South Australia corridor, Heywood (V-SA) is exporting 340 MW from VIC to SA, running at 74% of its 460.1 MW export limit — active but not binding. This flow is consistent with SA's price premium of $145.12/MWh against VIC's $136.38/MWh, a spread of $8.74/MWh. Murraylink (V-S-MNSP1) is contributing a modest 27 MW VIC-to-SA, well within its 36.42 MW export limit. Murraylink carries active constraint notices stemming from the Redcliffs converter station outage history in May and AEMO's newly activated dynamic rating model (VSML_RAT_LIM_DYN and SVML_RAT_LIM_DYN), which has been live in pre-dispatch and PASA since 27 May. The Koorangie–Wemen 220 kV line outage (constraint set V-KOWE) also remains active and nominally affects V-SA, V-S-MNSP1, T-V-MNSP1, and VIC1-NSW1 export capability, though none of those interconnectors are currently binding against that constraint.

VIC-NSW (VIC1-NSW1) is flowing 118 MW southward — VIC importing from NSW — at just 22% of its 529.69 MW import limit, leaving substantial headroom. The $2.56/MWh price gap between NSW ($138.94) and VIC ($136.38) is narrow, consistent with a relatively open, lightly loaded interconnector. Basslink (T-V-MNSP1) sits at zero flow, with TAS at $97.99/MWh — the lowest price on the NEM — and no energy currently transferring to VIC despite the $38.39/MWh differential. The Marinus/Basslink corridor's zero flow warrants watching; the Tailem Bend 275 kV East Bus outage (constraint set S-TB275_E_BUS) affecting V-SA remains active, and traders should note that the accumulation of active network notices across VIC-connected interconnectors limits AEMO's operational flexibility if a regional stress event develops during this morning's demand ramp.