Interconnector Watch: Thursday 23 July 2026
Two interconnectors are binding at 06:30 AEST: Heywood (V-SA) at 644.7 MW export from VIC into SA, sitting right at its 644.69 MW export limit, and Murraylink (V-S-MNSP1) at 144 MW, also flowing VIC-to-SA and pinned to its export ceiling. With SA priced at $78.44/MWh against VIC's $58.50/MWh, both links are working at full capacity to arbitrage that $19.94 spread — SA demand (1,618 MW) is being met partly by imports totalling 788.7 MW across the two interconnectors, and the binding constraints mean SA prices aren't being pulled down further despite available cheaper VIC generation.
Basslink (T-V-MNSP1) is flowing 384.7 MW from Tasmania into Victoria, well within its 456 MW export limit, so utilisation sits around 84% and non-binding. This flow is consistent with TAS1's $52.92/MWh trading below VIC1's $58.50/MWh. Note that AEMO cancelled the Farrell-Reece 220kV lightning-related contingency reclassification overnight (effective 23/07 21:59), which had temporarily tightened Basslink-linked constraint sets F-T-FARE_N-2 — that restriction is no longer active, supporting the current headroom on this link.
VIC1-NSW1 is exporting 884.0 MW from Victoria into NSW, using 94% of its 938.33 MW export limit but not formally binding. This aligns with NSW1's $68.16/MWh sitting above VIC1's $58.50/MWh. On the northern boundary, NSW1-QLD1 (QNI) is flowing 485.4 MW from QLD into NSW (negative convention), well under its 1,090.6 MW import limit, consistent with QLD1's $63.87/MWh sitting between NSW and VIC pricing. Directlink is flowing a modest 17 MW from QLD to NSW, negligible against its 60.1 MW export capacity.
Overall, price differentials across regions today are being actively compressed by interconnector flows rather than left to diverge — the SA-VIC corridor is the constrained pinch point, with both Heywood and Murraylink maxed out on export, meaning any further SA demand growth or VIC supply tightening will show up as SA price separation rather than additional import relief. The active NSW automated