The deregulation of the electric power market has introduced strong competition, and as a result, power plant operators strive to develop advanced operational strategies to maximize the profitability given the conditions of the dynamic electric power market. In the deregulated electric power market, the operational strategies should match the evolving electric power market, and be capable of performing an optimization that is specific to a unit operating in a complex environment. A profit based, lifecycle oriented, and unit specific approach is proposed for more effective gas turbine power plant operational optimization, and methodologies for this approach are developed. This paper outlines an integrated, generic environment for unit-specific gas turbine power plant operational modeling and optimization, while several other follow up papers address specific operational optimization problems. The procedure is implemented for a generic combined cycle power plant with single gas turbine with the results demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed approach.