Britain’s homes are set to be powered by the world’s largest wind turbines towering 853ft tall with blades that extend 351ft.

The futuristic turbines will be built on Dogger Bank Wind Farms, an artificial island 130km off the coast of Yorkshire in the North Sea.

The turbines will be able to power 4.5 million homes a year – the equivalent to 5 per cent of the UK’s electricity generation.

The Haliade-X turbines – which have been developed by Paris-based company GE Renewable Energy – will be connected by electricity cables to the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Belgium.

Developers say a single turbine can power 16,000 homes, making it one of the most efficient models in the world.

Science Photographer of the Year shortlist Show all 9 1 /9 Science Photographer of the Year shortlist Science Photographer of the Year shortlist Soap bubble structures showing light interference colours and patterning Bubbles want to optimise space and minimise their surface area for a given volume of air. This unique phenomenon makes them a reliable, useful tool in many areas of research. In particular, materials science and 'packing' - how things fit together. Bubble walls drain under gravity, thin at the top, thick at the bottom and interferes with travelling lightwaves to create bands of colour. Black spots show the wall is too thin for interference colours, indicating the bubble is about to burst! - Kym Cox Kym Cox/RPS Science Photographer of the Year shortlist Upside down Jelly fish, Cassiopea xamachana Instead of swimming, this species spends its time pulsing up and down in the water. Their diet is sea plankton and their coloration comes from the uptake of algae in the water. Some jellyfish species have been documented eating plastics in the ocean. One theory suggests that algae grows on the plastic. As it breaks down, the algae creates the odor of dimethyl sulfide that attracts hungry animals. - Mary Anne Chilton Mary Anne Chilton/RPS Science Photographer of the Year shortlist Tribolium confusum. Confused flour beetle. This small beetle is a pest in stored grain and flour products. Scanning electron micrograph, coloured in Photoshop. - David Spears David Spears/RPS Science Photographer of the Year shortlist NGC7000 North American Nebula The North America Nebula, NGC7000, is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to Deneb. The remarkable shape of the nebula resembles that of the continent of North America, complete with a prominent Gulf of Mexico. The Cygnus Wall, a term for the "Mexico and Central America part" of the North America Nebula, exhibits the most concentrated star formations in the nebula. - Dave Watson Dave Watson/RPS Science Photographer of the Year shortlist Safety Corona A safety pin is connected to a high tension AC generator. The pin ionizes the air around it. When the electrons fall back on an atom, the excess energy is emitted as a photon, which generate the corona glow around the pin. The fuzziness of the pin is because the camera did not actually capture light reflected on the pin but rather the light emitted by the ionized light around it. - Richard Germain Richard Germain/RPS Science Photographer of the Year shortlist Calmness of Eternity Himalayas mountains, Nepal. Gosaikunda high-mountain lake. Point of shooting - 4400m. The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy with a diameter between 150,000 and 200,000 light-years. It is estimated to contain 100‚ 400 billion stars Yevhen Samuchenko Yevhen Samuchenko/RPS Science Photographer of the Year shortlist Stag beetle Stag beetle. Light microscopy. Magnification 5x. - Viktor Sykora Viktor Sykora/RPS Science Photographer of the Year shortlist Mapping1_OxygenIb_PEM Final Major Project for an MA Photography Falmouth University. Project: Mapping 1, Post Exertional Malaise. Mapping 1, focuses on discovering the research behind Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Through exploration of perspective, complexities, and scientific multidisciplinary collaborations, I create imagery that explains, reveals and connects us consciously to the ambiguous and unknown. - Yasmin Crawford Yasmin Crawford/RPS Science Photographer of the Year shortlist Lovell Telescope Series 1c I have always been fascinated with the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank since I went on a school trip as a child. Here, I wanted to take a series of closer, more detailed and more honest shots than we often see. Exploring the multitude of shapes and exposing the wear of the telescope, each photo in the series stands alone or can be viewed collectively, either way, they present a powerful portrayal of machine that helps humankind in their endeavours to understand space and time. - Marge Bradshaw Marge Bradshaw/RPS

Construction is set to begin in early 2020 with the first electricity to be produced in 2023.

Dogger Bank is set to be the largest wind farm in the world with a combined capacity of 3.6GW.

Paul Cooley of co-developer SSE Renewables said: “Dogger Bank will now be home to the largest offshore wind turbines in the world and this pioneering low carbon technology which will play a central role in helping the UK become carbon neutral by 2050.”

The turbines have been specifically designed for offshore wind production, where constant wind means more energy can be produced at a lower cost.

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John Lavelle, president and CEO of the offshore wind arm of GE Renewable Energy, said: “We have an important role to play in the UK’s offshore wind ambitions and in delivering further carbon emission reductions.