Interconnector Watch: Friday 5 June 2026

Interconnector conditions at 06:30 AEST are defining clear price separation across the NEM. Victoria is the primary exporter on two fronts simultaneously: Heywood (V-SA) is carrying 481.9 MW southward into South Australia and is binding at its export limit, while Murraylink (V-S-MNSP1) is also binding at its 90 MW export ceiling into SA. Combined, these two corridors are pushing 571.9 MW west from VIC into SA, yet SA still prices at $101.04/MWh against Victoria's $75.67/MWh — a $25.37/MWh spread that reflects SA's constrained import capacity rather than any local shortage of supply. Both interconnectors are simultaneously at their export limits, meaning no additional transfer into SA is physically possible under current dispatch. The Heywood constraint notice from 2 June remains active, with AEMO having raised the SA-to-VIC test limit to 600 MW for internetwork testing; however, the current binding direction is VIC-to-SA, not the tested reverse direction.

On the QNI corridor, NSW1-QLD1 is flowing 776.25 MW northward from NSW into Queensland, utilising 71% of the available import limit into QLD of 1,088 MW — not binding, but carrying a substantial volume. This northward flow aligns with QLD pricing at $80.00/MWh versus NSW at $90.56/MWh; the flow is arbitraging the spread but the $10.56/MWh differential persists, indicating transmission losses and remaining constraint headroom are absorbing part of the price gap. The directional MNSP connector between NSW and QLD (N-Q-MNSP1) is flowing 41 MW southward — back toward NSW — which is consistent with its role as a market network service provider optimising against the prevailing price relationship. The lightning-related reclassification of the Armidale–Dumaresq and Armidale–Sapphire WF 330 kV lines was cancelled on 2 June, so the associated constraint set (N-ARDM_ARSR_1PH_N-2) affecting both QNI and N-Q-MNSP1 is no longer active.

VIC1-NSW1 (Vic-NSW interconnector) is carrying 896 MW northward from Victoria into NSW, sitting at 94% of its 952.53 MW export limit — close to, but not yet binding. This flow is consistent with the $14.89/MWh price differential favouring NSW over Victoria and follows the cancellation of the negative settlement residue constraint (NRM_VIC1_NSW1) that had capped this corridor on 1 June; with that constraint lifted, the interconnector has returned to near-capacity export. Basslink (T-V-MNSP1) is at zero flow with Tasmania pricing at $80.20/MWh, essentially flat to Victoria's $75.67/MWh — insufficient price incentive to push flow in either direction within current dispatch. Loss data is not reported across any corridor in this interval, so net transfer figures represent gross metered flow. The overall picture is Victoria dispatching heavily into both NSW and SA simultaneously, with binding constraints on both SA-facing links capping westward transfer and sustaining SA's premium price position.