Interconnector Watch: Wednesday 24 June 2026

At 06:30 AEST, NEM interconnectors are carrying substantial south-to-north and Victoria-to-NSW flows against a backdrop of meaningful regional price spreads. QNI (NSW1-QLD1) is binding hard at its import limit of -590 MW — power is flowing north from NSW into Queensland at full capacity — yet Queensland sits at just $93.83/MWh against NSW's $147.89/MWh, a $54/MWh spread that reflects QNI's inability to equalise prices further. VIC-NSW (VIC1-NSW1) is carrying 587.9 MW northward from Victoria into NSW and is at its import limit of -587.9 MW, though AEMO's dispatch engine is not flagging it as binding in the current interval. Victoria prices at $177.12/MWh remain the highest on the NEM despite exporting nearly 588 MW north, pointing to tight local supply conditions in VIC1 that the interconnector is unable to fully relieve given NSW is also elevated at $147.89/MWh.

Murraylink (V-S-MNSP1) is binding at -118 MW on its import limit, flowing from Victoria into South Australia. This is the most constrained link on the SA corridor and is directly affected by the active N-BU_7118 constraint set, which has been in force since a short-notice rating change to the Buronga B Bus 7118 220 kV isolator on 23 June. The constraint set limits Murraylink's capacity and, combined with legacy outage constraints on the Balranald–Buronga 220 kV line and the Roseworthy–Templers 132 kV line (both still active), is compressing transfer capability into SA. Heywood (V-SA) is carrying 144.44 MW into SA and sitting at its import limit, though AEMO does not flag it as binding this interval. Together, the two VIC-SA links are delivering around 262 MW into SA, which at 1,620 MW demand is a meaningful import share — yet SA prices at $165.68/MWh remain well above Victoria's $177.12/MWh spread inverted by losses and constrained capacity.

Basslink (T-V-MNSP1) is flowing 100 MW from Tasmania into Victoria, well within its 287.9 MW export limit and not binding. Tasmania at $79.28/MWh is the cheapest region on the NEM, and the current 100 MW export represents significant headroom — Basslink could theoretically push nearly three times this volume northward, suggesting either Tasmanian generation or hydro scheduling is the limiting factor rather than the interconnector itself. Directlink (N-Q-MNSP1) is carrying 153 MW from Queensland into NSW (negative flow, QLD-to-NSW direction), operating within its -175.99 MW import limit and not binding. Directlink remains subject to the I-CTRL_ISSUE_TE constraint set, active since 20 June, due to control unavailability on the link — this constrains its operational flexibility regardless of the physical headroom shown in the limit.

The composite picture today is one of Victoria acting as the NEM's central congestion point: it is simultaneously importing from Tasmania, exporting to both NSW and SA, and carrying the highest spot price on the grid. The binding constraints on Murraylink and QNI are preventing full arbitrage across the NSW–QLD and VIC–SA