Interconnector Watch: Monday 24 August 2026
Interconnector flows across the NEM are currently unconstrained by binding limits, though several links are running at notable utilisation and are clearly shaping today's regional price spreads. None of the six interconnectors are flagged as binding at this dispatch interval, but Basslink and Heywood stand out for utilisation levels worth watching through the day.
Basslink (TAS1→VIC1) is flowing 393.65 MW north into Victoria, sitting at 86% of its 459 MW export limit — the tightest utilisation on the network right now. This is consistent with TAS1's $90.60/MWh price sitting below VIC1's $100.38/MWh, with Tasmanian generation exporting into the higher-priced Victorian market. Heywood (V-SA) is exporting 139.7 MW from VIC1 into SA1, running at exactly its 139.7 MW import limit — effectively at full capacity on that side. This flow is unusual given SA1's price is sitting at the market floor of -$1/MWh, well below VIC1's $100.38/MWh; SA's negative pricing likely reflects strong local renewable output that the Heywood link cannot fully absorb given its capacity ceiling, keeping downward pressure on SA prices. Murraylink (V-S-MNSP1) is showing zero flow, effectively idle at present.
On the NSW-QLD corridor, QNI (NSW1-QLD1) is flowing 735.09 MW from QLD1 into NSW1, using 66% of its 1112.36 MW import limit, consistent with QLD1's lower price ($84.53/MWh) against NSW1's $95.20/MWh. Directlink (N-Q-MNSP1) is moving a smaller 33 MW in the same direction (QLD1 to NSW1), well within its 114.2 MW limit. VIC-NSW is exporting 354.53 MW from NSW1 into VIC1, at 44% of its 813.65 MW export limit, again aligned with the price differential drawing flow toward the higher-priced VIC1 region.
No active binding constraints are reported in today's flow data, and market notices show no new inter-regional transfer limitations issued this morning — the most recent constraint set activations (Lismore-Koolkhan, Tailem Bend-South East, Sydney West-Vineyard) date from 19-21 August and remain in the notice log as background context rather than live drivers. The Basslink-related TAS1 contingency reclassifications around the Farrell-Reece and Tungatinah-Waddamana lines have both been cancelled as lightning risk cleared, so Basslink is trading without those additional constraint sets currently in force. Traders should watch Heywood utilisation closely given SA1's negative pricing — any further increase in SA renewable output with the interconnector already at its import ceiling will likely push SA1 prices deeper negative rather than exporting the surplus.