What is gigawatt?

A gigawatt is a unit of power equal to one billion watts. It is used to express the total power output of national electricity grids, large power stations, and national energy policy targets.

What is megawatt?

A megawatt is a unit of power equal to one million watts. It is used to rate the output of power plants, large industrial facilities, and grid-scale renewable energy installations.

Worked examples

1 gigawatt = 1,000 megawatt

1 megawatt = 1,000,000 watt

More Power conversions

• Convert gigawatt to watt
• Convert gigawatt to kilowatt
• Convert gigawatt to horsepower (mechanical)
• Convert gigawatt to megawatt
• Convert gigawatt to milliwatt
• Convert gigawatt to microwatt
• Convert gigawatt to BTU per hour
• Convert gigawatt to kilocalorie per hour
• Convert gigawatt to ton of refrigeration

Assumption: horsepower values use mechanical horsepower.