Most of the efforts to improve energy system configurations are directed towards the recovery of internal heat, which reduces the contribution of the external hot source and enhance system efficiency accordingly. This problem is strictly related to the synthesis of different components into system topology, i.e. with the definition of the optimal system configuration according to specified objectives. A new method for the optimization of the heat transfer interactions within energy systems is presented here, based on the idea of cutting thermal links between the "basic" components of the system. The boundary temperatures of hot and cold flows that are generated as a consequence of these cuts are evaluated in an optimization procedure that involves the design parameters of the system as well. The high potential of the proposed method consists in separating the problem of defining the system configuration into two separate sub-problems, the first regarding the definition of the "basic" topology of the system (related to all components different from the heat exchangers), the second the optimal heat transfer interactions within the system. This feature makes complex systems today only marginally "optimizable", amenable to complete optimization. The method is applied to a humid air turbine (HAT) cycle plant, which represents a good test to prove its reliability and generality, due to the internal recirculation of mass and energy flows. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.