Post-combustion CO2 capture (PCC) plant for a typical 600 MW natural gas fueled thermal power plant was designed as a trade-off between operability and mitigation of the efficiency penalty. Two modified PCC plant configurations with low efficiency penalty were selected. The methodology for designing PCC plants was adapted by incorporating design constraints based on operability and the construction of absorbers. This was applied in sizing the equipment of the plants. Two configurations of absorbers were analyzed based on flue gas flow rate at full-load condition and at time-average of an assumed load variation of a power plant operating flexibly. It was found that the absorber designed at time-average load provided a reduction of approximately 4% in the purchased cost of absorbers. The performance of the designed plants under power plant load variation, flow maldistribution and variable capture ratio was analyzed using off-design condition simulations. The absorber designed at full-load condition was found to lead to lower reboiler duty in order to maintain a similar capture rate to that of the other absorber during part-load operation. Dynamic simulations of the plants with the existing control structure were performed under similar power plant load variations to confirm their operability, and suggestions for selecting one of them were presented. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.