Interconnector Watch: Saturday 13 June 2026

At 06:30 AEST, the VIC-NSW interconnector (VIC1-NSW1) is carrying the largest flow on the NEM, with 963 MW moving north from Victoria into New South Wales. This represents 81% utilisation against its 1,190 MW export limit and is the dominant cross-regional transfer on the network right now. The flow aligns with the $12.33/MWh price spread between VIC1 ($61.52/MWh) and NSW1 ($73.85/MWh), with Victoria's lower-priced generation being arbitraged northward. No binding constraint is registered on this interconnector, so the spread reflects network economics rather than a hard limit. On QNI (NSW1-QLD1), flow sits at -147 MW — meaning 147 MW is moving south from Queensland into NSW — at 69% of the import limit into NSW. The QLD1-NSW1 spread is narrow at just $1.35/MWh ($72.50 vs $73.85/MWh), consistent with near-unimpeded transfer and competitive pricing across the border.

Heywood (V-SA) is flowing 102 MW westward from Victoria into South Australia, operating well within its -262 MW import capacity at roughly 39% utilisation and not binding. SA1 prices at $58.61/MWh sit $2.91/MWh below VIC1, which is a modest spread given the flow direction; the differential is narrow enough that Heywood is not being pushed hard. Murraylink (V-S-MNSP1) is at zero flow with both import and export limits also registering zero, indicating the interconnector is offline or effectively unavailable at this interval. Basslink (T-V-MNSP1) is also at zero flow, with its 125 MW capacity in both directions unused. The active market notice flagging constraint set F-I_ML_APD_LOAD — invoked following the short-notice outage of the APD A2 500/220 kV transformer in Victoria on 10 June — is associated with T-V-MNSP1 and remains live, which is the likely driver of Basslink's zero transfer. TAS1 is priced at $70.14/MWh, a $8.62/MWh premium over VIC1, a spread that would ordinarily attract southward Basslink flow; the constraint is suppressing that arbitrage.

Directlink (N-Q-MNSP1) is passing a nominal -9 MW southward from Queensland into NSW, well below its 88 MW import capacity and not binding. However, an active constraint notice — CA_BRIS_593C7214, invoked on 11 June to maintain power system security in Queensland — remains in force and has equations with N-Q-MNSP1 on the left-hand side. This constraint is curtailing Directlink's capacity and is the reason the interconnector is operating at just 10% of its available import limit despite the modest QLD-NSW price differential. The separately active V-KGKO constraint set, triggered by the unplanned outage of the Kerang–Koorangie 220 kV line in Victoria on 9 June, has equations spanning V-S-MNSP1, T-V-MNSP1, V-SA, and VIC1-NSW1 and also remains live. This constraint is a likely contributor to Murraylink's zero availability and is placing residual limits on