Interconnector Watch: Wednesday 26 August 2026
Basslink is the standout this morning, flowing 388.68 MW from TAS1 into VIC1 — 85% of its 459 MW export limit and well above its 208.4 MW import limit, indicating strong utilisation but not formally binding. This flow direction is counterintuitive given TAS1's price ($258.64/MWh) sits below VIC1's ($285.80/MWh); typically energy moves toward the higher-priced region, so today's export likely reflects Tasmanian hydro availability supporting Victorian demand ahead of price convergence, with the ~$27/MWh spread not yet fully arbitraged.
VIC1-NSW1 is exporting 259.48 MW from VIC1 to NSW1, consistent with NSW1 holding the highest regional price in the mainland NEM at $299.99/MWh versus VIC1's $285.80/MWh. Utilisation sits at just 24% of the 1083.84 MW export limit, so there's substantial unused capacity — the spread isn't wide enough to drive heavier flows, or network conditions elsewhere are limiting despatch. QNI (NSW1-QLD1) shows a modest 310.19 MW flow from QLD1 into NSW1, only 27% of the 1132 MW import limit, keeping QLD1 ($289.69/MWh) and NSW1 ($299.99/MWh) prices relatively aligned within $10/MWh.
Heywood (V-SA) is flowing a light 53.06 MW from SA1 into VIC1, against a 581.23 MW export limit — minimal utilisation despite SA1 holding the lowest mainland price at $228.97/MWh. Murraylink (V-S-MNSP1) is sitting at zero flow, fully idle. This leaves the VIC1-SA1 corridor well short of arbitraging the roughly $57/MWh gap between VIC1 and SA1, pointing to soft demand in SA1 (1555 MW) rather than transfer capacity constraints. Directlink (N-Q-MNSP1) is flowing a small 9 MW from QLD1 to NSW1, negligible against its limits.
No interconnectors are currently binding. Active constraint notices relate to prior outages — the Tailem Bend-South East 275kV line (SA1) and Sydney West-Vineyard 330kV line (NSW1) both carry inter-regional transfer limit variations affecting multiple interconnector LHS terms, but neither is showing as a binding constraint in current flows. The TAS1 lightning-related contingency reclassifications on the Tungatinah-Waddamana and Farrell-Reece lines have both been cancelled, removing any Basslink-linked constraint sets (F-T-FARE_N-2) from the active set. Overall, today's spreads are being shaped more by generation availability and demand patterns than by transfer capacity limits — most interconnectors have meaningful headroom, leaving price convergence incomplete across regions, particularly on the VIC1-SA1 corridor and via Basslink's counter-flow.