He also led ExxonMobil’s review of the world’s largest floating offshore wind project in Norway.

Atlantic Shore is one of two renewable energy companies that has set its sights on Atlantic City.

Danish company Orsted opened an office in the city last spring on the ground floor of the Bella Condominiums facing Pacific Avenue as it gears up for its 3,000 megawatt Ocean Wind project planned for 10 miles off Atlantic City’s shoreline.

The company said it will generate 1,000 jobs during its two- to three-year construction cycle and another 100 permanent jobs for 25 years.

New Jersey’s ambitious offshore wind goals come as states up and down the East Coast compete to construct turbines that will create jobs and jump start local economies. The state’s emerging offshore wind industry is expected to produce 15,000 jobs through 2030, according to New Jersey’s draft Energy Master Plan for 2019 released Monday.

In the race to build, the Jersey Shore may be a prime location for offshore wind, said Joseph Brodie, director of atmospheric research at Rutgers University’s Center for Ocean Observing Leadership.

That’s because the winds are strong and reliable, he said, which ensures there will be a constant source of energy generation. New Jersey also has a broad, shallow continental shelf, making it easier to build there, he said.

“(The companies) looked at a lot of different factors,” Brodie said. “And they determined those were the best spots in the state to build turbines.”

Another phenomenon called “upwelling” that is common along the New Jersey coast in the summer and fall makes the area ripe for wind farms, according to research last year from Rutgers. Upwelling occurs when wind is blowing along the coastline and water in deeper levels of the ocean rises to the surface, making sea breezes more intense.

“New Jersey is unique in that respect,” Seroka told The Press of Atlantic City. “It is home to some of the strongest upwelling along the U.S. East Coast.”