Michael Kruse
Managing Partner
Executive committee
Global Practice Leader - Energy, Utilities & Resources
Michael advises energy clients in organization design, operations and large-scale project transformation, focusing on power generation and transmission grid
Education
University of Münster (Germany)
Master of Science in Business Administration
German Chamber of Commerce
Associate Degree in Banking
Past Experience
Capgemini Consulting
Senior Consultant
Main Title Secondary - For Display Purposes
Michael is a Managing Partner at Arthur D. Little based in Zurich, and member of its Executive Committee. Leader of Arthur D. Little's Global Energy & Utilities Practice and co-head of Central European Energy & Utilities teams, Michael also oversees all company's Global Industry Practices. Michael is associated with Arthur D. Little’s Performance Practice.
Michael focuses on strategy and project development of large-scale capital investment programs in the power sector, including conventional and renewable energies as well as power grids. He gained extensive experience in the development of functional strategies and complex organization transformation within the energy sector. His most recent consulting work focuses on building the transmission grid of the future, nuclear generation as well as offshore wind and corporate transformation in the digital era.
Michael holds a Master of Science degree in Business Administration with Honors from the University of Muenster (Germany), specializing in Operations Management and International Management. He also holds an Associate Degree in Banking.
In his leisure time, Michael is passionate about hiking in the alps, triathlon as well as overlanding.
Small modular reactors
Small modular reactor (SMR) technology has been attractive on paper, but difficult to realize in practice. Despite high investments into SMR development, no SMRs are yet in commercial operation. However, as the world struggles with the immense challenges of transitioning away from fossil fuels, a resurgence of interest has appeared across the globe.
Time to renew your pilot’s license?
The disrupted energy transition
So, though “net zero” may remain an overarching ambition, how will this severe and unexpected event disrupt the energy transition? In this Viewpoint, we consider how it's possible to move to a cleantech economy while ensuring the security of supply for power and heat.
Finding the true north for local content definition in the nuclear industry
Establishing principles for quantifying localization
The next big bang in emissions-free energy
Winning the productivity race in hydropower
From sticky-notes to implementation
Customer journeys are a way for energy companies to record every interaction with their customers, getting an end-toend view of the journeys and processes the customer goes through. It allows them to see processes from the customer perspective, which is a powerful tool to steer the customer experience. However, according to a recent study, more than 93 percent of companies fail to implement customer journeys successfully. In particular, utilities, for which the idea of a customer is comparatively new, frequently fail to implement customer journeys.
Nuclear Lean
Nuclear power plant owners are hesitant to pursue life extension projects, and in some cases, are even shutting down their plants. As plants age and safety requirements inflate costs of life extension projects, nuclear plant owners often do not find these projects an attractive business case. This, combined with lack of political support, fear of national nuclear phaseouts, and competition from other (often renewable) energy sources, has forced the premature shutdown of several nuclear plants across the world. Arthur D.
Getting ready for the energy consumer of the future
The energy sector is undergoing radical transformation as formerly passive consumers take control over their energy consumption and procurement. Based on the five stages of this transformation, we explain how it impacts the energy value chain and outline the capabilities that traditional providers must embrace if they are to meet the needs of the energy consumer of the future.
Fourth revision of the proposed amendment of the Gas Directive
Proposed Gas Directive amendment and the EC-Gazprom settlement
During the spring of 2018, after seven years of deliberations, the European Commission concluded its investigation of Gazprom regarding alleged abuse of its market position in Central and Eastern European gas markets. The outcome is a finely crafted settlement setting out rules and guidelines for acceptable future market behavior. As the settlement is based on mutual agreement, while at the same time accepted by the European Commission as adequate to bring a locally dominant competitor to heel, it has a good chance of succeeding.
Gas Directive amendment and relations with third countries
The proposed amendment to the EU Gas Directive aims to extend EU Internal Gas Market legislation to import pipelines from third countries. This would mean imposing third-party access, ownership unbundling, transparency and EU-regulated tariffs on infrastructure outside the boundaries of the internal market, for example, due to entering the EU from international waters. As a consequence, a number of intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) will have to be negotiated, or renegotiated with third-country governments.
Energy Journal – Utilities
The global electricity industry is wrestling with its legacy as it undergoes the most significant structural changes since Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1879. The forces of innovation and disruption led by technological advances and economic viability of several trends such as decentralized renewable energy, energy storage, digitalization/smartization of networks, electric vehicles, active policy making and regulation, and the influx of new market entrants in the power sector are the main drivers of the current transformation.
Nuclear failures
In 2011 the tragic events at Fukushima called the nuclear industry to a sudden halt. In the months after the accident, several nuclear programmes for example in Switzerland, Thailand, The Netherlands and to some extent also in the U.S., were put on hold or stopped entirely. Now, seven years later, it is evident that the global nuclear industry has recovered from this shock and is back to speed, albeit with a slower pace. In the beginning of 2018 about 450 reactors had been under operation and more than 55 new reactors are under construction at the moment.
Analysis of the proposed gas directive amendment
This report reviews the recently proposed amendment to the Gas Directive, as put forward by the European Commission, which has been submitted to the European Parliament and the Council of the EU in November of 2017.The proposed amendment suggests the extension of the Third Energy Package, to include gas import pipelines from third countries.This would mean that these import pipelines would also become subject to the four key principles of
Who dares to take the “monkey” on their shoulder?
Companies can evolve as long as people in steering positions maintain an entrepreneurial spirit. If no entrepreneurial decisions are made anymore, growth stagnates and organizations end up administrating themselves. In a world of stable energy prices and regulated markets, for energy companies agility and anticipation of the future were of lesser importance. Decision-making could be risk-averse and steady.
Economic impact on Europe of the Nord Stream 2 project
The Nord Stream 2 project aims to provide the means for safe and secure supplies of natural gas to the European gas market. The EU market, covering 28 countries, is characterized by decreasing indigenous production, an increasing requirement for gas to support the transition to sustainable energy supplies, and increased competition between different sources of natural gas. The Nord Stream 2 pipelines will complement two existing pipelines through the Baltic Sea, and add 55 bcm of design capacity.
The future of lignite power
After nuclear, the future of lignite will be the next big discussion on the energy agenda. The German “Energiewende” is the world’s most ambitious program to transform the electric energy system of a country: at the same time energy efficiency and the share of renewable energies has to increase while use of nuclear power and other fossil-fuel energy practices has to be stopped.
Beating the Unknown
Businesses continuously face unsteady and challenging waters as the world becomes more complex and change happens every day. Nonetheless, most businesses support their decision-making processes using simple and static net present value or internal rate of return calculations – neglecting to assess the uncertainties present in the underlying assumptions.
Managing Capital Projects Successfully
Recent instances of substantially over-budget and behind-schedule energy projects have demonstrated that even the most sophisticated energy companies are not able to “get it right” every time. In this report we explain the best practice approach that we take to help our clients to identify and resolve deficiencies and manage their capital projects successfully.
Offshore Wind Meets Nuclear
Offshore wind projects often embrace expertise from the Oil & Gas industry. Facing increasing delays and other challenges it might be the right time to also have a look at an industry which is often considered an antagonist of wind power: nuclear energy.
Michael is a Managing Partner at Arthur D. Little based in Zurich, and member of its Executive Committee. Leader of Arthur D. Little's Global Energy & Utilities Practice and co-head of Central European Energy & Utilities teams, Michael also oversees all company's Global Industry Practices. Michael is associated with Arthur D. Little’s Performance Practice.
Michael focuses on strategy and project development of large-scale capital investment programs in the power sector, including conventional and renewable energies as well as power grids. He gained extensive experience in the development of functional strategies and complex organization transformation within the energy sector. His most recent consulting work focuses on building the transmission grid of the future, nuclear generation as well as offshore wind and corporate transformation in the digital era.
Michael holds a Master of Science degree in Business Administration with Honors from the University of Muenster (Germany), specializing in Operations Management and International Management. He also holds an Associate Degree in Banking.
In his leisure time, Michael is passionate about hiking in the alps, triathlon as well as overlanding.
Small modular reactors
Small modular reactor (SMR) technology has been attractive on paper, but difficult to realize in practice. Despite high investments into SMR development, no SMRs are yet in commercial operation. However, as the world struggles with the immense challenges of transitioning away from fossil fuels, a resurgence of interest has appeared across the globe.
Time to renew your pilot’s license?
The disrupted energy transition
So, though “net zero” may remain an overarching ambition, how will this severe and unexpected event disrupt the energy transition? In this Viewpoint, we consider how it's possible to move to a cleantech economy while ensuring the security of supply for power and heat.
Finding the true north for local content definition in the nuclear industry
Establishing principles for quantifying localization
The next big bang in emissions-free energy
Winning the productivity race in hydropower
From sticky-notes to implementation
Customer journeys are a way for energy companies to record every interaction with their customers, getting an end-toend view of the journeys and processes the customer goes through. It allows them to see processes from the customer perspective, which is a powerful tool to steer the customer experience. However, according to a recent study, more than 93 percent of companies fail to implement customer journeys successfully. In particular, utilities, for which the idea of a customer is comparatively new, frequently fail to implement customer journeys.
Nuclear Lean
Nuclear power plant owners are hesitant to pursue life extension projects, and in some cases, are even shutting down their plants. As plants age and safety requirements inflate costs of life extension projects, nuclear plant owners often do not find these projects an attractive business case. This, combined with lack of political support, fear of national nuclear phaseouts, and competition from other (often renewable) energy sources, has forced the premature shutdown of several nuclear plants across the world. Arthur D.
Getting ready for the energy consumer of the future
The energy sector is undergoing radical transformation as formerly passive consumers take control over their energy consumption and procurement. Based on the five stages of this transformation, we explain how it impacts the energy value chain and outline the capabilities that traditional providers must embrace if they are to meet the needs of the energy consumer of the future.
Fourth revision of the proposed amendment of the Gas Directive
Proposed Gas Directive amendment and the EC-Gazprom settlement
During the spring of 2018, after seven years of deliberations, the European Commission concluded its investigation of Gazprom regarding alleged abuse of its market position in Central and Eastern European gas markets. The outcome is a finely crafted settlement setting out rules and guidelines for acceptable future market behavior. As the settlement is based on mutual agreement, while at the same time accepted by the European Commission as adequate to bring a locally dominant competitor to heel, it has a good chance of succeeding.
Gas Directive amendment and relations with third countries
The proposed amendment to the EU Gas Directive aims to extend EU Internal Gas Market legislation to import pipelines from third countries. This would mean imposing third-party access, ownership unbundling, transparency and EU-regulated tariffs on infrastructure outside the boundaries of the internal market, for example, due to entering the EU from international waters. As a consequence, a number of intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) will have to be negotiated, or renegotiated with third-country governments.
Energy Journal – Utilities
The global electricity industry is wrestling with its legacy as it undergoes the most significant structural changes since Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1879. The forces of innovation and disruption led by technological advances and economic viability of several trends such as decentralized renewable energy, energy storage, digitalization/smartization of networks, electric vehicles, active policy making and regulation, and the influx of new market entrants in the power sector are the main drivers of the current transformation.
Nuclear failures
In 2011 the tragic events at Fukushima called the nuclear industry to a sudden halt. In the months after the accident, several nuclear programmes for example in Switzerland, Thailand, The Netherlands and to some extent also in the U.S., were put on hold or stopped entirely. Now, seven years later, it is evident that the global nuclear industry has recovered from this shock and is back to speed, albeit with a slower pace. In the beginning of 2018 about 450 reactors had been under operation and more than 55 new reactors are under construction at the moment.
Analysis of the proposed gas directive amendment
This report reviews the recently proposed amendment to the Gas Directive, as put forward by the European Commission, which has been submitted to the European Parliament and the Council of the EU in November of 2017.The proposed amendment suggests the extension of the Third Energy Package, to include gas import pipelines from third countries.This would mean that these import pipelines would also become subject to the four key principles of
Who dares to take the “monkey” on their shoulder?
Companies can evolve as long as people in steering positions maintain an entrepreneurial spirit. If no entrepreneurial decisions are made anymore, growth stagnates and organizations end up administrating themselves. In a world of stable energy prices and regulated markets, for energy companies agility and anticipation of the future were of lesser importance. Decision-making could be risk-averse and steady.
Economic impact on Europe of the Nord Stream 2 project
The Nord Stream 2 project aims to provide the means for safe and secure supplies of natural gas to the European gas market. The EU market, covering 28 countries, is characterized by decreasing indigenous production, an increasing requirement for gas to support the transition to sustainable energy supplies, and increased competition between different sources of natural gas. The Nord Stream 2 pipelines will complement two existing pipelines through the Baltic Sea, and add 55 bcm of design capacity.
The future of lignite power
After nuclear, the future of lignite will be the next big discussion on the energy agenda. The German “Energiewende” is the world’s most ambitious program to transform the electric energy system of a country: at the same time energy efficiency and the share of renewable energies has to increase while use of nuclear power and other fossil-fuel energy practices has to be stopped.
Beating the Unknown
Businesses continuously face unsteady and challenging waters as the world becomes more complex and change happens every day. Nonetheless, most businesses support their decision-making processes using simple and static net present value or internal rate of return calculations – neglecting to assess the uncertainties present in the underlying assumptions.
Managing Capital Projects Successfully
Recent instances of substantially over-budget and behind-schedule energy projects have demonstrated that even the most sophisticated energy companies are not able to “get it right” every time. In this report we explain the best practice approach that we take to help our clients to identify and resolve deficiencies and manage their capital projects successfully.
Offshore Wind Meets Nuclear
Offshore wind projects often embrace expertise from the Oil & Gas industry. Facing increasing delays and other challenges it might be the right time to also have a look at an industry which is often considered an antagonist of wind power: nuclear energy.
More About Michael
- University of Münster (Germany)Master of Science in Business Administration
- German Chamber of CommerceAssociate Degree in Banking
- Capgemini ConsultingSenior Consultant