On Friday 9 March, the European Commission confirmed that the problem of low electric power supply to Kosovo - which affected the 50 Hertz frequency in the synchronised continental Europe electricity network, leading to six-minute delays in electric time-pieces (such as those in microwave ovens or alarm clocks), noted in 25 countries of the network – is now being addressed.
The European Network of Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E) gave its assurance, on Thursday 8 March, that frequency deviations in the electricity network of continental Europe, due to a dispute over electricity between Serbia and Kosovo, “had ceased” and that it was now working on the second step which is “to develop a plan for returning the missing energy to the system and putting the situation back to normal”.
“ENTSO-E has now confirmed with the Serbian and Kosovar TSOs, respectively EMS and KOSTT, that the deviations which affected the average frequency in the synchronous area of continental Europe have ceased”, the pan-European body explains. It goes on to assure that it is working with the Commission “to identify a sustainable long-term solution” to prevent this from happening again.
In order to explain this “unprecedented situation” in the electricity network of continental Europe, ENTSO-E had pointed a finger of blame, on Tuesday 6 March, at “a political problem” between Serbia and Kosovo.
Serbia does not recognise Kosovo’s independence as proclaimed in 2008. With Russia’s support, it is opposed to Kosovo’s entry to the UN and to various international organisations. Thus, Kosovo is not a member of ENTSO-E and its access to the network of continental Europe is via Serbia.
On Tuesday, ENTSO-E had underlined that “a political solution is urgently needed in addition to technical”. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)