What is a Gigawatt ?
Beverly B. Voelkelt
Giga, Tera, and Mega – are all terms from the electric energy sector which, when mentioned in connection with time, power, and work, give an array of possibilities for the inexperienced reader to get confused. Numbers like that are hardly ever used in daily context, and thus difficult to conceptualize or visualize. Numbers, which for example relate to the yearly energy consumption of California or the world; the amount of renewable energy needed to reduce “green house gas emissions”, or to replace conventional fossil fuel electric energy.
The table below lists increments of “power” as commonly used when referring to “electric energy”:
Power Sign Power Number Equivalent Number
Watt W 1 One 1
Kilowatt kW 10p3 Thousand 1, 000
Megawatt MW 10p6 Million 1, 000, 000
Gigawatt GW 10p9 Billion 1, 000, 000, 000
Terawatt TW 10p12 Trillion 1, 000, 000, 000, 000
Petawatt PW 10p15 Quadrillion 1, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000
Exawatt EW 10p18 Quintillion 1, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000
Other helpful definitions for looking at Energy, Power and Energy Sources:
Energy
1 kilo Watt hour (kWh) = 3.6 x 106 joules = 3,412.0 Btu
1 British thermal unit (Btu) = 1055.0 joules
1 joule (J) = 0.2388 calories
1 calorie (Cal) = 4.187 joules
Power
1 Watt (W) = 1 joule/sec = 3.412 Btu
1 kiloWatt (kW) = 0.9478 Btu/sec = 1.341 horsepower
1 Btu/sec = 1.055 kilowatts
Other
1 bbl oil = 1,700 kWh = 6.120 x 106 joules
1,000 ft3 gas = 300 kWh = 1080 x 106 joules
1 short ton coal (0.9078 metric tons) = 6,600 kWh = 23,760 x 106 joules
Sources:
U.S. Geological Survey
The American Heritage Dictionary