With the development in low carbon economy and maturity of carbon capture and storage（CCS） technology， the carbon capture power plant（CCPP） might become an important option in the future power mix. Hence， it would be of significance to formulate and analyze the operation modes and characteristics of CCPP. The technology principle， energy flow and operation process of CCPP are analyzed first. Then， one basic and four flexible operation modes are identified， which are respectively named“basic”，“flue gas diversion”，“rich solvent diversion”，“solvent storage” and“integrated”. On this basis， the relation between power generation and carbon emission（PG-CE） of CCPP in different operation modes is analyzed and quantified. Finally， the validity and usefulness of the proposed research are demonstrated using numerical results.