Systems and methods for configuring micro-grids to restore some power in a power distribution grid (PDG) in response to a power disruption over the PDG. A computing system configured to receive current condition information from devices in the PDG. Form a minimum spanning forest (MSF) to identify a set of micro-grids, each spanning tree in a forest is a self-sustained islanded micro-grid network. Assign a ranking to each inter-bus link within each micro-grid according to constraints, to identify some inter-bus links above a high-ranking threshold to be switched off during a restoration period. Identify switches that restore power to some critical loads of a subset of critical loads with different forest configurations, based on buses that are switched on, to determine a subset of micro-grids less susceptible for link failures during the restoration period. Upon receiving a power disruption, activate the switches to restore some power to the PDG.