Research and development efforts to reduce $CO_2$ emission are in progress to cope with global warming. $CO_2$ emission from fossil fuel fired power plants is a major greenhouse gas source and the post-combustion $CO_2$ capture is considered as a short or medium term option to reduce $CO_2$ emissions. In this study, the application of the post-combustion $CO_2$ capture system, which is based on chemical absorption and stripping processes, to typical fossil fuel fired power plants was investigated. A coal fired plant and a natural gas fired combined cycle plant were selected. Performance of the MEA-based $CO_2$ capture system combined with power plants was analyzed and overall plant performance including the energy consumption of the $CO_2$ capture process was investigated.