The design of a cooling system for a power plant is approached as a problem in systems synthesis. The cooling system is optimized with respect to both the independent variables associated with each cooling unit and the arrangement of the cooling units in the system. A sample cooling system is optimally synthesized with two methods of systems synthesis—a structural parameter problem formulation with a direct search and a dynamic programming formulation. Other approaches are also considered. Two types of cooling units—a mechanical draft cooling tower and a cooling pond—are used in the example. The methods proposed for the development of the optimal design are sufficiently general so that any number, type, or combinations of types of cooling units could be included in the optimal systems synthesis.