Michael B. Jacobs

Mike Jacobs is leading the Union of Concerned Scientists’s work on electricity markets and regulatory reform. He develops proposals in an effort to shape federal, regional and state electricity markets, regulation and policies to encourage the expansion of renewable energy resources and the reduction of coal-fired generation.

Prior to coming to UCS, Mr. Jacobs worked as the markets and policy director at a number of renewable energy and energy storage companies and at the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). In these positions, he developed strategies for integrating wind into the electrical grid using battery storage, expanding the use of existing transmission for renewable energy, and building merchant and dedicated transmission lines. At AWEA, he led settlement efforts at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to streamline generator interconnection rules for wind and small distributed generation. Most recently, Mr. Jacobs was part of the Electricity Storage Association Advocacy Council and advisor to the Sierra Club on storage procurement in California. Prior to this work, Mr. Jacobs served as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s liaison to FERC.

He has served on the boards of Wind on the Wires, the Wind Coalition, Interwest Energy Alliance, and the Northern Maine Independent System Administrator.

Mr. Jacobs earned a B.A. in the College of Social Studies at Wesleyan University and an M.S. in urban and regional planning at the University of Wisconsin - Madison.