Interconnector Watch: Saturday 22 August 2026
Basslink (TAS1→VIC1) is the binding constraint this morning, flowing 448.7 MW against its 459 MW export limit — 97.8% utilisation. This is Tasmania exporting near-maximum capacity into Victoria, consistent with TAS1's lower price of $102.93/MWh against VIC1's $115.00/MWh. The link remains capped by the I-VT_000 technical limitation constraint invoked 18 August, so headroom stays constrained at roughly 10 MW until that notice clears.
Flows elsewhere are comfortably within limits. QNI (NSW1-QLD1) shows -411.68 MW, indicating net flow from QLD1 into NSW1, aligning with QLD1's lower price ($111.65/MWh) relative to NSW1 ($119.02/MWh) — demand-driven arbitrage rather than any binding constraint, with utilisation sitting around 43% of the 953.61 MW import limit. Directlink (N-Q-MNSP1) is flowing a modest -17 MW in the same direction, well under its 97.4 MW capacity. VIC1-NSW1 carries 97 MW from VIC1 to NSW1, a small fraction of its 1379.83 MW export limit, reflecting the narrow $4/MWh spread between those regions.
Heywood (V-SA) and Murraylink (V-S-MNSP1) are both running light, at 11.69 MW and 9 MW respectively into SA1, against combined export capacity exceeding 750 MW. SA1's price of $113.07/MWh sits close to VIC1's $115.00/MWh, so there's little incentive for heavier interconnector utilisation in either direction today. Note the NRM_VIC1_SA1 negative residue constraint that operated briefly on 19 August has since ceased and isn't active in current flows.
On constraint notices, several TAS1 network reclassifications tied to lightning activity around the Tungatinah-Waddamana and Farrell-Reece lines have been cancelled as the weather cleared, removing associated non-credible contingency treatments from Basslink-related constraint sets. Outstanding inter-regional transfer notices from outages on the NSW Lismore-Koolkhan line, SA's Tailem Bend-South East line, and Victoria's Hazelwood bus tie remain active in the background, but none are currently the limiting factor — Basslink's technical export cap is the dominant driver of today's regional price spread pattern, keeping TAS1 the lowest-priced region in the NEM while VIC1 absorbs the imported volume.