Evaluating Cost Management of Power Grid Infrastructure Projects Using a Combined FDEMATEL-CRITIC-TOPSIS Model

The cost management of power infrastructure projects is crucial for the healthy and sustainable development of the power system. However, traditional cost management evaluation is mostly based on the cost control dimension, and few studies have diagnosed the cost management level from the perspective of the entire life cycle, resulting in high cost risk of power projects and insignificant improvement in management efficiency. Therefore, this paper proposes a new cost engineering management evaluation method based on the perspective of the entire life cycle of power grid project construction. First, a comprehensive evaluation index system including cost, construction period, quality and safety dimensions is constructed. Then, based on the FDEMATEL method to identify the causal relationship of indicators and the CRITIC method to extract data fluctuations and indicator conflicts, the subjective and objective combination weights of different indicators are calculated. Third, the comprehensive evaluation index of power grid project cost management is calculated based on the TOPSIS method. Finally, we conducted an empirical study on the power grid infrastructure projects in the Southern Power Grid area of China. The results show that: (1) the project schedule completion rate, the accuracy of the budget and settlement management, and the proportion of change costs to the reserve fund are the three core indicators; (2) the overall cost management level of Guizhou’s ultra-high voltage power grid 500 kV infrastructure projects is leading and can serve as a benchmark for other regions. The research can provide a reference for power grid companies to accurately control construction costs and narrow management gaps, and also provide a decision-making tool for the high-quality construction of new power systems.