Interconnector Watch: Monday 6 July 2026
Basslink is the standout mover this morning, exporting 403 MW from TAS1 into VIC1 — 88% of its 456 MW nominal export limit — as Tasmania's $107.33/MWh price sits at the bottom of the mainland stack. Heywood (V-SA) is the binding interconnector right now, flowing 203 MW from VIC1 into SA1 and sitting at its full -203.27 MW import limit, effectively capped. Despite the binding constraint, the VIC1-SA1 spread is narrow ($119.05 vs $110.10/MWh), suggesting the limit is a security/network constraint rather than one driving a large price separation at this snapshot. Murraylink (V-S-MNSP1) is barely utilised at -18 MW against a much larger capacity envelope, doing little to supplement Heywood's capped flow into SA.
On the NSW-QLD corridor, QNI (NSW1-QLD1) is flowing 459 MW from QLD1 into NSW1, well within its -1147 MW import limit (around 40% utilised), while Directlink (N-Q-MNSP1) contributes a modest 17 MW in the same direction. This aligns with QLD1 holding the lowest mainland price at $108.11/MWh against NSW1's $114.80/MWh, with QNI's spare capacity keeping the spread contained. VIC-NSW (VIC1-NSW1) is flowing 232 MW from NSW1 into VIC1, only about 22% of its 1078 MW export limit, consistent with VIC1 carrying the highest mainland price at $119.05/MWh and drawing support from both NSW1 and TAS1.
On constraints, AEMO's discretionary I-QN_600 set limiting QLD-to-NSW transfer for power system security was invoked 3 July and remains flagged active in notices, though QNI is well clear of its limit currently. Directlink continues operating under the N-MBTE_1 constraint from the unplanned Leg 1 outage (effective since 1 July), capping its import capacity at 61.6 MW export/-98.4 MW import. Heywood also remains subject to the S-ACPA constraint from the Angas Creek-Para 132kV line outage, which explains its current binding status despite the modest VIC1-SA1 price spread. No settlement residue constraints are currently active on NSW-VIC or VIC-SA, both having ceased in the