During the process of network reconfiguration after blackouts

overloading of the restored transmission lines may occur due to pickup of a major load. An optimization control method is proposed by amending the network structure. For the overloaded lines

all the feasible paths that can mitigate the occurred overloading are found out from the unrestored network to constitute a set of optional paths. The optional paths are evaluated and ranked by the effect of subsequent recovery

over-load elimination

operating status

as well as the complexity of the recovery operation. The sorted path set can be the network adjustment strategy for reducing the line overloading. The proposed network adjustment strategy is validated by the simulation results on the IEEE 39-bus power system. This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51277076) and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2014XS75).