Power plant with CO2 capture and compression

Since CO2 is identified as a main greenhouse gas, its capture and storage is essential to control of global warming. Flexible operation of CO2 capture and compression equipment will increase the competitiveness of power plants (1) designed for CO2 capture and compression and will allow earlier introduction of this kind of plants. The main objective of the present invention is to improve the plant operating characteristics by taking advantage of the additional flexibility, which can be realized by controlling the power consumption of the CO2 capture and compression system. One particular aim is to minimize the impact of CO2 capture and compression on the capacity of a power plant (1), i.e. to maximize the electric power the plant can deliver to the power grid. Further, the impact of CO2 capture and compression on the average plant efficiency shall be reduced. Both are achieved by an operating method, in which the power consumption of the CO2 capture system is used to control the net output (D) of the plant. Besides the method a power plant (1) designed to operate according to this method is subject of the present invention.