Interconnector Watch: Sunday 7 June 2026

At 06:30 AEST, NEM interconnectors are carrying moderate cross-regional flows with no binding constraints active, though two links are sitting at or near their export limits. The most notable position is V-SA (Heywood), which is flowing 224 MW from SA into Victoria and is pinned exactly at its import limit of -224 MW — the export limit field also reads -224 MW, confirming the link is effectively at its binding edge in the SA-to-VIC direction. This aligns directly with SA's position as the lowest-priced region at $67.35/MWh; surplus SA generation is moving east into Victoria ($74.05/MWh), capturing a $6.70/MWh spread. Murraylink (V-S-MNSP1) reinforces this dynamic, carrying a modest 20.74 MW from SA to VIC and also sitting precisely at its import limit of -124 MW on the SA side — though at only 20.74 MW of flow, it is well within capacity in absolute terms while technically registering as constrained at its current operating point.

On the QNI corridor, NSW1-QLD1 is exporting 179.67 MW northbound from NSW into Queensland, utilising 41% of the 437 MW export limit. Queensland is the second-highest priced mainland region at $87.73/MWh against NSW at $82.92/MWh, a $4.81/MWh differential that is driving but not saturating the northward flow. The N-Q-MNSP1 (Directlink) is contributing a further 25 MW northbound to Queensland, at 27% of its 90.94 MW export limit. Both QNI links had constraint sets invoked earlier in the month due to lightning-related reclassification of the Armidale–Dumaresq and Armidale–Sapphire 330 kV lines as credible contingency events; that reclassification was subsequently cancelled on 2 June, and no replacement constraint sets are currently binding on these corridors.

VIC1-NSW1 (the VIC-NSW interconnector) is carrying 432 MW northbound from Victoria into NSW, using 48% of its 900 MW export limit. Victoria's lower price of $74.05/MWh versus NSW's $82.92/MWh — a $8.87/MWh spread — is the clearest price-arbitrage signal on the mainland today, and this flow is the primary mechanism compressing that gap. An earlier negative settlement residue event on the VIC-to-NSW direction was resolved on 1 June at 20:00 AEST, and no residue constraint is currently active on this corridor. Basslink (T-V-MNSP1) is at zero flow, with Tasmania priced at $87.87/MWh — the highest NEM region — and Victoria at $74.05/MWh; the absence of southbound Tasmanian exports into Victoria despite a $13.82/MWh incentive suggests hydro dispatch or intra-Tasmanian constraints are limiting export availability at this interval. Loss data is not available for any interconnector in this settlement period.