In Denmark more than 40% of the electricity consumption is covered by geographically scattered electricity sources namely wind power and local CHP (cogeneration of heat and power) plants. This causes problems in regard to load balancing and possible grid overloads. The potential grid problems and methods for solving these are analysed in this article on the basis of energy systems analyses, geographic distribution of consumption and production and grid load-flow analyses. It is concluded that by introducing scattered load balancing using local CHP plants actively and using interruptible loads such as heat pumps, requirements of the transmission grid are lowered thereby reducing or eliminating needs of grid reinforcement. It is important that load balance is kept at local level and not just at an aggregate level. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.