gigawatt
noun
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
One gigawatt provides enough power for about 700,000 homes. — L.m. Sixel, Houston Chronicle, "NRG CEO Gutierrez says ERCOT overstates generation capacity," 8 Aug. 2019 Roughly 41 gigawatts of new wind capacity was under construction or in the advanced stages of development during the second quarter of 2019, an industry record. — Benjamin Storrow, Scientific American, "Giant Turbines Propel Boom in Wind Energy," 5 Aug. 2019 Very high temperatures across Europe coupled with prolonged dry weather has reduced French nuclear power generation by around 5.2 gigawatts or 8 percent, French power grid operator RTE’s data showed. — Reuters, The Mercury News, "Europe heat wave: All-time records broken in Paris, Netherlands," 25 July 2019 Florida Power and Light alone generates 25 gigawatts of electricity per year. — Dan Sweeney, sun-sentinel.com, "Why isn’t the Sunshine State the leader in using solar power? | You asked, we answer," 18 July 2019 Solar installations stalled after peaking at more than 14 gigawatts (GW) of power added in 2016, according to energy research firm Wood Mackenzie. — Michael J. Coren, Quartz, "Two companies petitioned for Trump’s solar tariffs—now they’re both out of business," 18 June 2019 Coal plant retirements are expected to continue, though at a slower pace than last year, when shutdowns were roughly 14 gigawatts (Climatewire, Jan. 2). — Benjamin Storrow, Scientific American, "2019 Power-Sector Trends Point to a Continued Rise in U.S. Emissions," 3 June 2019 Installations of global solar energy projects are expected to hit a new high of 114.5 gigawatts this year, an increase of nearly 18 percent from 2018. — L.m. Sixel, Houston Chronicle, "Solar growth to speed up after stumbling last year, report says," 29 July 2019 Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration announced plans to add 500 gigawatts of renewable energy to the country's power grid by 2030. — Shekhar Chandra, CNN, "Are parts of India becoming too hot for humans?," 3 July 2019These 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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