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giga·watt | \ ˈji-gə-ˌwät 
, ˈgi- \
, ˈgi- \Definition of gigawatt
: a unit of power equal to one billion watts
Examples of gigawatt in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web The projects are expected to generate 845 gigawatt-hours of electricity during their first year of operation.
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Randy Diamond, ExpressNews.com, "North American Development Bank approves nearly $170 million for border projects while awaiting congressional action," 29 Nov. 2019 The company, which was formed two years ago, has signed nearly two gigawatts of power purchase agreements and has over six gigawatts of additional projects in the pipeline.
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L.m. Sixel, Houston Chronicle, "California solar company sews up financing for new solar farm in Texas," 12 Sep. 2019 Miller’s confusing comments on the earnings call last month about the 4.5 gigawatts may have just been a verbal typo.
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Washington Post, "At GE, Transparency Comes in Fits and Starts," 16 May 2019 One gigawatt provides enough power for about 700,000 homes.
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L.m. Sixel, Houston Chronicle, "Nuclear plant outages averaged 2.7 gigawatts this summer," 7 Oct. 2019 The country has dramatically increased its solar power capacity in recent years.(Money Sharma /AFP/Getty Images)
In 2010, the country established the National Solar Mission, which set out to add 20 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2022.
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Julia Rosen, Los Angeles Times, "Here’s how 6 countries are stepping up to meet the Paris climate goals," 23 Sep. 2019 Modi, for example, said India plans to increase its renewable energy capacity to 450 gigawatts.
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Olivia Goldhill, Quartz, "While global leaders messed around, Greta Thunberg and 15 kids got down to business," 23 Sep. 2019 Twenty-two gigawatts of wind turbines translates to roughly 10,000 ungainly machines, each perched on a 200-foot or higher tower and requiring routine in-place maintenance.
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WSJ, "Plugging in the Wind Is a Complicated Issue," 28 June 2019 Of approximately 100 gigawatts of solar generation added in 2018, China accounted for 44 and the U.S. 11.
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Andrew Blum, Time, "The Tech Innovations We Need to Happen if We're Going to Survive Climate Change," 12 Sep. 2019
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'gigawatt.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Time Traveler for gigawatt
The first known use of gigawatt was circa 1962
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