gigawatt

noun

giga·​watt ˈji-gə-ˌwät How to pronounce gigawatt (audio) ˈgi- How to pronounce gigawatt (audio)
: a unit of power equal to one billion watts

Examples of gigawatt in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Interconnection queues have swelled to historic levels, with gigawatts of ready-to-build generation projects waiting years for grid connection studies and upgrades. Jon Markman, Forbes.com, 27 Jan. 2026 In October, Anthropic and Google Cloud signed a multibillion-dollar deal that would bring over a gigawatt of AI compute capacity by 2026. Samantha Subin, CNBC, 27 Jan. 2026 BloombergNEF now sees just one-fifth of the more than 30 gigawatts of projects that the Biden administration sought coming online by 2030. Mark Chediak, Bloomberg, 27 Jan. 2026 Nearly 100 gigawatts of new data center capacity will be added by 2030 and energy constraints have become the biggest barrier for expansion. Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for gigawatt

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1962, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of gigawatt was circa 1962

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Cite this Entry

“Gigawatt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gigawatt. Accessed 31 Jan. 2026.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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