Purpose: Public–private partnership (PPP) projects are increasingly significant in many countries. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of critical success factors (CSFs) on PPP projects and comprehensively consider the interrelations and interaction among dimensions and factors to achieve a better understanding of PPP project management. Design/methodology/approach: An evaluation index system for PPP projects such as the presented case study is proposed based on a literature review and a survey. Then, interpretative structural modeling is used to transform the CSFs dimension into a multi-level hierarchical model to reflect the driven-dependency relation of each dimension; the fuzzy analytic network process model optimized by moment estimation theory is used to investigate the impact of CSFs by considering their internal impact. Findings: Regarding the project used as the case study, the driving force and dependence for driving layer and dependent layer are determined. Moreover, in driving layer, efficient and well-structured payment mechanism is the most important CSF if considering the internship and interaction among CSFs, and efficient and well-structured payment mechanism and good governance provide most positive interaction; in dependent layer, population of beneficiaries is the most important CSF if considering the internship and interaction among CSFs, and public client’s satisfaction provides most positive interaction. Originality/value: This paper developed an evaluation model to explore the interrelationships of dimensions and factors and then determine the impact of CSFs. The model propose in this paper relaxes the independence assumptions of traditional methods and is more in line with reality; besides, weighting method is optimized to obtain more objective and reasonable evaluation results. Through an empirical study, the validity of the model has been verified; therefore, the study can help project stakeholders better understand the CSFs and further improve project performance.

In making short-term optimal operation schemes of cascade reservoirs, water flow hysteresis between the upper reservoir and the lower reservoir is often considered as constant, which cannot really reflect the hysteresis variation between different water flows and will lead to losses of the optimal operation scheme’s benefit. To depict the water flow hysteresis, a Dynamic Water Flow Hysteresis Method (DWFHM) is proposed, based on the space mapping principle. With the mapping operator in the DWFHM, the lower reservoir inflow can be directly obtained. Besides, the DWFHM is used to deal with the hydraulic relation constraint in the short-term optimal operation model of cascade reservoirs. Then, the improved model is applied to the Jinguan cascade reservoirs in the Yalong River basin and solved by an Improved Progressive Optimal Algorithm (IPOA). The results are as follows. (1) Compared with the traditional Fixed Water Flow Hysteresis Method (FWFHM), the inflow processes of the lower reservoir obtained by the DWFHM are more in line with the actual values, due to full consideration of the attenuation effect. (2) The optimal operation with the DWFHM can effectively increase the generated energy (2827 MW·h and 504 MW·h in the non-flood season and the flood season, respectively). Through the analysis of this case, the DWFHM developed in this study can effectively improve the practicability of the optimal operation scheme and reduce the risk in the operation of cascade reservoirs.

Substantial uncertainty is inherent in reservoir inflow forecasting, which exerts a potential negative impact on reservoir risk. However, the risk propagation from the inflow forecast uncertainty (IFU) to reservoir operations remains elusive. Thus, a new integrated assessment framework was developed in this study to characterize the risk coupling with flood and electricity curtailment risks that propagate from the IFU to the reservoir operations. First, to incorporate the IFU, an improved Gaussian mixture distribution (IGMD) and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm were constructed to model the measured forecast errors and generate ensemble inflow forecasts, respectively. Next, to assess the reservoir risk, the flood risk induced by the IFU overestimation and the electricity curtailment risk related to the IFU underestimation were identified according to the reservoir operation rules. The sub-daily inflow forecast at the Jinping First Stage Hydropower Plant Reservoir of Yalong River, China (Jinping I Reservoir) was selected. The results indicated that the IGMD-based MCMC was capable of deriving robust ensemble forecasts. Furthermore, there was no flood risk (risk rate was zero) induced by the IFU when taking designed reservoir floods with a ≥10-year return period as the benchmark. In contrast, the electricity curtailment risk rate significantly increased up to 41% when considering the IFU. These findings suggested that compared with the flood prevention pressure, the IFU would more likely result in severe electricity curtailment risk at the Jinping I Reservoir.

In decision-making with interval numbers, there are problems such as how to reduce the loss of decision information to improve decision accuracy and the difficulty of using interval numbers for sorting. On the basis of fully considering the subjective and objective weights of indexes, the grey entropy method (GEM) is improved by taking advantage of the Mahalanobis-Taguchi System (MTS) in which the orthogonal design has few tests but much obtained information, and the Mahalanobis distance can reflect the correlation between indexes. Then, the signal-to-noise ratio is integrated with the improved degree of balance and approach, and a multi-dimensional interval number decision model based on MTS and GEM is put forth. This model is applied to selecting the optimal scheme of controlling the Pankou reservoir’s water level in flood season. Compared with the decision results of other methods, the optimal scheme selected by the proposed model can achieve greater benefits within an acceptable risk range and thus better coordinate the balance between risk and benefit, which verifies the feasibility and validity of the model.

To narrow the gap between theoretical research and practical application of short-term optimal reservoir power generation operation under uncertain conditions, a comprehensive study is conducted on the formulation, evaluation, and implementation of operation schemes throughout the entire procedure of optimal operation. Firstly, the three implementation modes of the optimal operation scheme are assessed with the post-evaluation method. After the optimal implementation mode is determined, the formulation and implementation of optimal operation schemes are improved by combining the advantages of conventional and optimal operation and using the concept of warning water level in operation rules. Finally, the Xiaoxuan Reservoir is taken as an example for simulation calculation under different operating conditions. The results show that the operation model integrated with operation rules has both the security of conventional operation and the profitability of optimal operation. The accordingly-formulated optimal operation schemes, when implemented with the output control mode, can provide valuable guidance for the actual operation of hydropower stations.