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 Last year, countries added about 300 gigawatts, according to the agency’s latest World Energy Transitions Outlook published in June. E&e News, Scientific American, 20 Nov. 2023 Major cloud providers capable of providing multiple gigawatts of power are also continuing to invest in renewable and alternative energy sources to power their data centers, and use less water to cool them down. Belle Lin, WSJ, 9 Nov. 2023 Globally, there are at least 3,000 gigawatts of renewable energy waiting for permission to connect to power lines — equivalent to five times the amount of solar and wind installed last year. Brad Plumer, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2023 In total, the two factories will produce 67 gigawatt hours annually. Chris Isidore, CNN, 11 Oct. 2023 The factory is expected to cost between $2 billion to $3 billion to supply 21 gigawatt hours of power, the companies said Wednesday. BostonGlobe.com, 6 Sep. 2023 Recent analysis, however, has suggested that the EU could install, for hydrogen production, a great deal more offshore wind generation beyond the 450 GW specified in the net-zero projections—perhaps hundreds of gigawatts more, in fact. Matthias Mueller, IEEE Spectrum, 19 Aug. 2023 To achieve 100% clean energy, state agencies envision adding 70 gigawatts over the next decade, and an additional 50 gigawatts by 2045 — in other words, more than doubling the size of the electric grid. Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2023 The International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that the demand capacity for hydrogen electrolyzers will reach 100 gigawatts by 2030, but the current annual production of iridium can support only up to 7.5 GW of capacity. IEEE Spectrum, 30 Oct. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gigawatt.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1962, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of gigawatt was circa 1962

Dictionary Entries Near gigawatt

Cite this Entry

“Gigawatt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gigawatt. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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