A method for controlling a specified power reserve of a gas turbine power plant having an input means which generates a load set-point signal for the gas turbine power plant and a controller which receives the load set-point signal and regulates a power output of the gas turbine power plant, the method comprising:
- continuously updating an estimate of the maximum power generation capacity of the gas turbine power plant;
- calculating a load offset by specifying a power reserve and determining the load offset from the specified power reserve;
- calculating a load limit as a difference of the estimate of the maximum power generation capacity and the load offset;
- and
- applying the load limit as an upper limit of the load set-point signal to obtain a limited load set-point signal.