A methodology for the evaluation of a natural draft cooling tower (CT) that is a part of a power plant is proposed. In this work the connection between CT performance and power output is established. The methodology consists of three subparts, i.e. Cooling Tower Profiler (CTP) method, CT model and model of a power plant. In the first part of the paper the three subparts of the methodology are described. Focus is given to the empirical model of the plant and a new application of the Poppe model. The simple empirical model enables accurate prediction of the power increase as a function of cooling water temperature and load to the plant. On the other hand, Poppe governing equations were derived for application on the local basis of CT. Moreover, the constraints and assumptions of CT analysis are discussed. The methodology is presented on real data from the power plant and CT. This is the base for application of the methodology presented in the second part of the paper where the focus is given on minimizing the error of the methodology. A small area with irregularities is analyzed and results are reported. Furthermore, a simplified computational approach to solving the Poppe equations is proposed yielding faster calculation with preserved accuracy. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.