Interconnector Watch: Friday 21 August 2026

VIC-NSW is the standout right now: 714 MW flowing from Victoria into NSW, sitting at its full export limit and binding. That flow is doing the work of narrowing what would otherwise be a much wider spread between $12.50/MWh in VIC1 and $90/MWh in NSW1 — even at full capacity, NSW demand (7,444 MW) is pulling enough Victorian generation across the border to hold NSW prices at $90 rather than higher, while VIC's low price reflects ample local supply.

Heywood (V-SA) and Murraylink (V-S-MNSP1) are both binding as well, exporting 488 MW and 63 MW respectively from VIC1 into SA1. Both interconnectors are running at their export limits, consistent with VIC1's $12.50/MWh drawing down against SA1's $49.83/MWh — cheap Victorian supply is capping SA prices, though SA's own price still sits well above VIC1 given the transfer capacity ceiling. Basslink (T-V-MNSP1) is binding in the opposite direction, importing 268 MW from TAS1 into VIC1 at its full import limit, aligning with TAS1's $41.33/MWh sitting above VIC1's $12.50/MWh.

QNI (NSW1-QLD1) is flowing lightly, 102 MW from QLD1 into NSW1, well inside its 1,143 MW import / 794 MW export limits and not binding — unsurprising given NSW1 ($90) and QLD1 ($89.53) are near price parity today. Directlink (N-Q-MNSP1) shows zero flow, also non-binding. Losses aren't reported in this dataset, but with three of six interconnectors pinned at limits, marginal loss factors on VIC-NSW, Heywood and Murraylink are likely elevated given they're carrying peak transfer.

On the constraint side, AEMO has reclassified a non-credible contingency on the Tungatinah-Lake Echo-Waddamana and Tungatinah-Waddamana 110kV lines in TAS1 as credible (issued 05:23 AEST) due to lightning — this doesn't currently bind an interconnector set but warrants monitoring given TAS1's recent history of lightning-driven reclassifications on Basslink-linked lines (Farrell-Reece cancelled overnight). Basslink also remains under a standing technical limitation notice (I-VT_000) capping its import limit at 268 MW, which explains why it's binding at exactly that level rather than a higher transfer. Separately, the NSW-QLD Lismore-Koolkhan outage constraint (N-KKLS_967) remains active but isn't currently binding given the light QNI flow.