• Serbia-Kosovo dispute slows European clocks

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      Patrick Lavery

      Combustion Industry News Editor

The ongoing dispute between Serbia and Kosovo over Kosovo’s unilateral separation from Serbia in 2008 has resulted in some clocks across continental Europe being slowed by up to six minutes this year. Kosovo fell behind in the delivery of 113 GWh of power to the Continental Europe Power System, which shares electricity across 25 European countries. The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity, which governs the sharing network, requires Serbia to make up any shortfall from Kosovo, but Serbia declined to do so between mid-January and early March, meaning that there was a slight decrease in the electric frequency average, which some electric clocks use to measure time. Kosovo itself generated the additional 113 GWh in early March to bring the system back into balance, stopping the slowing of clocks.